Wednesday, February 28 2018 15:28

ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity declined by 47.6% in January 2018, but increased 10.2% year-on-year (January 2018 to January 2017), against last year's January decline by 46.9% and annual growth of 6.5%. According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, annual growth has provoked all areas, except for the agricultural sector, and only in January the only growth was recorded in the energy complex.

In January 2018, industrial production declined by 25%, services - by 21.6%, trade - by 54.8%, agriculture - by 81.2%, construction - by 89.4%, and only the energy complex was growing - by 0.6%. In the annual segment (January 2018 to January 2017), the construction sector and trade sector distinguished the largest growth - 19.7% and 17.3% respectively, followed by the services sector - 15.2%, industrial sector - 13.9% and energy complex - 7%, and in the agricultural sector there was a decline of 0.4%.

According to the statistical data, the index of industrial production prices increased by 1.2% in January 2018, with an annual growth of 5.2%. A year earlier, in January 2017, the industrial production price index increased by 0.3%, with an annual growth of 5.5%.

In January 2018, the trade sector with the volume of 157.4 billion AMD ($ 326.3 million) holds the leading position. The second place in terms of volume is the industrial sector - 128.3 billion ($ 265.9 million), the third - the service sector - 111.4 billion AMD ($ 231 million), the fourth - the agricultural sector -    17.5 billion AMD ($ 36.4 million), and the fifth - construction sector - 9.3 billion AMD ($ 19.3 million). The volume of electricity generation in January 2018 was 830.1 million kWh.

At the same time, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January 2018 amounted to 226.4 billion AMD ($ 504.2 million) with an annual growth of 47.6%. In its structure, the volume of exports has undergone annual growth of 45.2% to 85.3 billion AMD ($ 176.7 million), while imports - annual growth of 48.9% to 141.1 billion AMD ($ 327.5 million). Only in January 2018 foreign trade turnover decreased by 26.8% due to a 28.4% drop in imports and exports by 23.8%. A year earlier, in January 2017, the foreign trade turnover underwent an annual growth of 45.5% due to an increase in exports of 35.4% and imports of 51.4%, but only in January 2017, the decline in exports and imports by 21.8% and 27% accordingly led to a reduction in foreign trade turnover by 25.3%.

The average calculated exchange rate of AMD was 482.40 AMD / $ in January 2018, compared to 486.01 AMD / $ 1 in January 2017. It should be noted that the World Bank predicts GDP growth of Armenia in 2018 by 3.8% with acceleration in 2019 to 4%. The WB forecasts a significant slowdown in the growth rate of Armenia's foreign trade in 2018, in particular for exports - up to 9.2% and import - up to 10.3%, but in 2019, by contrast, there will be a noticeable acceleration of growth in exports and imports - up to 9, 7% and 10.6% respectively. The Central Bank predicts GDP growth by 4.7-5.8% for 2018. The state budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2018 laid the GDP growth by 4.5%.