ArmInfo. In January-February of 2018, the volume of Armenia's industrial production by the same period of 2017 increased by 8.3% (against 16.1% growth a year earlier), making 254.7 billion AMD($ 528.5 million). Only in February, the industry showed an increase of 0.4% to 126.4 billion AMD($ 262.7 million). According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the growth of the industrial sector is due to the improvement in the dynamics of the manufacturing industry against the backdrop of a decline in the mining sector.
So, in January-February of 2018 to the same period in 2017 in the mining industry and the development of open pits, a 2% decline was registered (against 8% growth a year earlier) to 53.6 billion AMD. But only in February the mining industry decreased by 14.7% to 24.2 billion AMD. The volume of manufacturing industry in January-February 2018 increased by 18.4% year-on-year (against growth of 23.3% a year earlier) to 147 billion AMD, while the monthly growth of 12% - to 77.98 billion AMD.
Moreover, in the manufacturing industry during the reporting period only the volume of beverage production - by 3.1%. At the same time, a significant growth was recorded in the production of other non- metallic mineral products - 3 times, production of machinery and equipment - 2.1 times, textiles - 2.3 times, clothing - 2 times, chemical products - 98.7%, rubber and plastic products - by 62.7%, finished metal products - by 59.5%. In the manufacturing sector, food products (38.2 billion drams), basic metals (31.4 billion), cigarettes (25.1 billion), beverages (17.2 billion drams) are leading in terms of production volumes.
According to the statistical data, the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning as a whole decreased in January-February 2018 to the same period in 2017 by 9% (against 9% growth a year earlier) to 50.1 billion AMD against the background of a monthly decline of 11, 8% to 22.4 billion AMD. Moreover, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the annual section increased by 2.3%, while gas production, distribution of gaseous fuels through gas supply systems decreased by 26.3%. Revenues from water supply, waste treatment and processing and receipt of secondary raw materials increased by 0.7% per annum (against 5.3% growth a year earlier) to 4 billion AMD during the reporting period. On a monthly basis, this segment showed a decline of 9.2% to 1.9 billion AMD. Moreover, the upward annual dynamics in this segment, mainly, the collection, processing and disposal of waste, the receipt of secondary raw materials (an increase of 14.8%). The volume of industrial production in Armenia in 2017 as compared with 2016 grew by 12.6% (against growth of 6.7% a year earlier), amounting to 1.660 trillion AMD ($ 3.4 billion). The improvement in dynamics was reflected in the acceleration of the growth rate of the mining sector to 13.9% from 8.3% a year earlier and from the manufacturing industry to 15.7% from 7.7% a year earlier. The average calculated exchange rate of the dram to the US dollar in February 2018 was 481.37 AMD / $ 1, and in January-February - 481.88 AMD / $ 1, against 486.51 AMD / $ 1 in February 2017 and 486.26 other / $ 1 in January-February.
