ArmInfo. The volume of industrial production in Armenia in 2018 compared with 2017 increased by 4.3% (against a growth of 12.6% a year earlier), amounting to 1.737 trillion. drams ($ 3.6 billion).
The slowdown in the upward trend was triggered by a decline in the mining sector and a slowdown in the manufacturing industry. In December 2018 alone, industrial production increased by 12.5% (against a growth of 0.2% in December 2017) with a volume of 174.3 billion drams ($ 359.6 million).In 2018, compared with 2017, in the mining industry and the development of open-pit mines, a decline of 14% was recorded (against 13.9% growth a year earlier) - to 300.7 billion drams. In December alone, the mining sector secured a volume of 27.3 billion drams with a monthly increase of 15.3%, with an annual decline of 11.5%.
The volume of the manufacturing industry increased over the year by 10% (against a growth of 15.7% a year earlier) - up to 1.1 trillion. drams, of which 120.3 billion drams fell in December, an increase of 14.4% over the month.Moreover, in the manufacturing industry, a significant increase in 2018 was recorded in the production of textiles (by 77%), machinery and equipment (by 55.4%), furniture (by 45.2%), chemical production (by 43.4%), clothing (by 40.8%), other non-metallic mineral products (by 39.5%). At the same time, the decrease in volumes was recorded only in the production of electrical equipment (by 20.5%) and base metals (by 6.4%). In the manufacturing industry in terms of production volumes, food products are leading (326.3 billion drams), cigarettes (178.4 billion), basic metals (173.7 billion), beverages (152.5 billion drams).According to the statistics, the supply of electricity, gas, steam and conditioned air in general increased over 2018 by 5.7% (against the growth of 1.2% a year earlier) - up to 259 billion drams.
In December only, an increase of 1.1% was recorded - to 24.6 billion drams. Moreover, the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity for the year increased by 6.5% (with a decline in December by 2.3%), while the production of gas, the distribution of gaseous fuel through the gas supply systems increased by 2.1% ( with an increase of 14% in December).Revenues from water supply, cleaning and processing of wastes and receiving secondary raw materials decreased by 2% in 2018 (against 8.1% growth a year earlier) - to 25.6 billion drams, with growth in December by 19.9% - to 2.1 billion drams Moreover, the decline in this segment mainly determined the collection, treatment and disposal of waste (by 7.9% per annum).
Recall that the volume of industrial production in Armenia in 2017 accelerated annual growth from 6.7% to 12.6%, reaching 1.660 trillion. drams ($ 3.4 billion). The improvement in the dynamics was provoked by the acceleration of the growth rate of the mining sector from 8.3% to 13.9%, and the manufacturing industry from 7.7% to 15.7%.The average settlement rate of the dram to the US dollar in December 2018 was 484.67 dr./$ 1, and in January-December 2018 - 482.99 dr./$ 1, against 483.18 dr./$ 1 in December 2017 and 482, 72 dr./$ 1 in January-December 2017