ArmInfo.The volume of industrial production in Armenia in January-August 2019 increased by 9.5% compared to the same period in 2018 (against 4.4% growth a year earlier), amounting to 1.3 trillion. drams ($ 2.6 billion). According to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the acceleration of the upward trend caused a reversal in the direction of growth in the dynamics of the mining sector and acceleration of the growth of the manufacturing sector.
In August 2019 alone, the volumes of the industrial sector increased by only 0.2% (against the 2.6% decline in August 2018), amounting to 181.2 billion drams ($ 380.6 million).
In January-August 2019 in the same period of 2018, an increase of 14.8% was recorded in the mining industry (against the 10.4% decline a year earlier) - to 225.8 billion drams. The volume of manufacturing industry increased in January-August 2019 by 10.4% per annum (against an increase of 9.3% a year earlier) - up to 850.2 billion drams. Admission, in August alone, the mining sector generated 29.1% growth, while manufacturing showed a decline of 7.6%.
In particular, in the manufacturing industry, subsidence in January-August 2019 was recorded for the production of base metals (by 3.8%), computers, electronic and optical equipment (by 0.7%), and jewelry (by 25.8%). A significant increase was recorded in the production of textiles (1.7 times), other non-metallic mineral products (1.6 times), electrical equipment (42.8%), finished metal products (38.5%). In the manufacturing sector, food products (285.7 billion drams), cigarettes (121.1 billion), base metals (113.2 billion), and beverages (106.4 billion) are traditionally leaders in terms of production volumes.
According to the statistics, the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning as a whole decreased in January-August 2019 by the same period of 2018 by 0.1% (compared to 5.2% a year earlier) - up to 167 billion drams. And only in August, an increase of 8.7% was recorded. Moreover, the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in January-August decreased by 2.5% per annum (with an increase of 8.2% in August), while gas production, distribution of gaseous fuels through gas supply systems increased by 12% (at 11.9% increase in August).
Revenues from water supply, waste treatment and processing and the receipt of secondary raw materials decreased in January-August by 0.5% per annum (against the 0.7% decline a year earlier) - to 17.1 billion drams, with an increase in August by 3.8 % Moreover, the decline in this segment was mainly due to the collection, processing and destruction of waste, the receipt of secondary raw materials (annual decline of 19.5%, per month - by 5%).
Recall that the volume of industrial production in Armenia in 2018 compared with 2017 increased by 4.3% (against growth by 12.6% a year earlier), amounting to 1.737 trillion drams ($ 3.6 billion). The slowdown in upward dynamics was triggered by a 14% decline in the mining sector (against 13.9% a year earlier) and a slowdown in the manufacturing industry - from 15.7% a year earlier to 10% in 2018.
The average calculated exchange rate of AMD to the US dollar in August 2019 was 476 dr./$ 1, and in January-August - 482.19 dr./$ 1, against 482.43 dr./$ 1 in August 2018 and 482.01 dr./$ 1 in January- August 2018