By April 2019, the trade sector of Armenia slowed growth to 10.1% per  annum

ArmInfo. In the Q1 of 2019, the Armenian trade sector slowed y-o-y growth to 10.1% from 12.9% in the same period of 2018, making 651.7 billion drams ($ 1.3 billion). The  dynamics was due to a slowdown in the growth of wholesale trade and a  reversal in the dynamics of car trade from a rise to a decline, in  parallel with which the upward trend of retail trade accelerated.  According to the RA Statistics Committee, in March 2019 alone, trade  turnover in Armenia increased by 6.7% to 239.6 billion drams ($ 491.6  million).

Wholesale trade during the reporting period increased volumes by  14.9% per annum - to 317 billion drams ($ 650.6 million), against a  growth of 24.6% in the first quarter of 2018. In March 2019 alone,  the wholesale trade turnover in Armenia increased by 2.6% to 116.2  billion drams.

Retail sales increased revenues by 7.8% per annum to 314.7 billion  drams ($ 646 million), against 3.7% growth in the Q1 of 2018. In  March alone, retail sales revenue grew by 11.2% to 116.7 billion  drams. In the structure of retail trade, the largest turnover is  provided by stores (including supermarkets) - 247.1 billion drams or  78.5% (with y-o-y growth of 9.1%), other shopping facilities - 43.1  billion drams or 13.7% (with y-o-y growth of 10.7%), followed by  consumer goods markets with a margin of 14.4 billion or 4.6% (with  y-o-y decline of 8.9%), stalls and kiosks - 7.3 billion or 2.3 %  (with an annual growth of 10.2%) and agricultural markets - 2.8  billion or 0.9% (with an annual decline of 31%).  The volume of  purchase / sale of cars in the Q1 of 2019 decreased by 16.8% per  annum - to 19.9 billion drams ($ 40.9 million), against a growth of  13.9% a year earlier. In monthly terms, revenue from the sale /  purchase of cars increased by 3.6% - to 6.6 billion drams.

In the structure of the total trade turnover of Armenia, the lion's  share (48.6%) falls on the wholesale trade, 48.3% - on retail, and  3.1% - on the purchase / sale of cars.

The average settlement rate of the dram to the US dollar in March of  2019 was 487.48 AMD./$ 1, and in January-March - 487.23 AMD/$ 1,  against 480.41 AMD / $ 1 - in March of 2018 and 481.9 AMD/$ 1 - in  January-March of 2018