ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity in January-July 2020 decreased by 5.7%, and the only sectors that kept growing were the industrial sector and the energy complex. In July of this year. by July 2019, economic activity had declined by 10.2%, with volumes sagging across all industries.
And in July 2020 alone, economic activity increased by 9.7%, with the main growth drivers being the energy complex, the trade sector and the construction sector, with a weak increase in the volume of the industrial sector and stagnant growth in the service sector. A year earlier, in January- July 2019, by the same period of 2018, economic activity increased by 6.8% and the growth drivers were the services, trade and industrial sectors, in July 2019 compared to July 2018 the growth of this indicator was 8.1%, and only in July 2018, an increase of 12.8% was recorded.
According to the preliminary data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the decline in economic activity in January-July 2020 caused the sagging volumes of the construction sector - by 22.6%, the trade sector - by 10.9%, and the service sector - by 9.2%. In parallel with this, the observed weak growth of the industrial sector by 1.3% and the power complex by 3.4% were insufficient to improve the dynamics of economic activity. Since 2019, data on the agricultural sector in the reports of the Statistical Committee are published only on a quarterly basis. A year earlier, in January-July 2019, the highest growth was demonstrated by the service sector - by 15.2%, the trade sector - by 8.9% and the industrial sector - by 8.4%, against which the growth of the construction sector looked modest - 4.5% , and the energy complex was in decline by 5%.
The industrial product price index in January-July 2020 increased by 1.1% compared to the same period in 2019, in July 2020 it increased by 3.7% compared to July 2019, and only in July 2020 increased by 1%. A year earlier, in January-July 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, the industrial product price index did not change, in July 2019 compared to July 2018 it decreased by 0.7%, and only in July 2018 it decreased by 0.1%.
On a monthly basis (for July 2020), the decisive impetus to the growth of economic activity was given by the energy complex - by 16.2%, the trade sector - by 11.7%, the construction sector - 10.8%, with a weak growth of the industrial sector by 1.4% and stagnant growth of the service sector by 0.9%. A year earlier (in July 2019), trade showed an increase of 9.3%, the service sector - by 7.7%, the industrial sector - by 6.7%, the construction sector - by 5.9%, the energy complex - by 2.4%.
On an annualized basis (July 2020 to July 2019), the largest decline was recorded in the service sector - by 21.6%, after which the construction sector - by 19.5%, the trade sector - by 10.4%, and the industrial sector - by 2.3%, and the energy complex - by 2%. A year earlier, in July 2019 to July 2018, the highest growth was demonstrated by the industrial sector - 16.1% and the service sector - 14.9%, followed by trade - 9.1% and the construction sector - 4.1%, and the energy complex was delayed recession slowing down to 2.2%. According to statistics in January-July 2020, the absolute leadership is held by the trade sector with a volume of 1.5 trillion. drams ($ 3.1 billion). In second place in terms of volume, the industrial sector - 1.1 trillion. drams ($ 2.2 billion), the third - the service sector - 968.8 billion drams ($ 2 billion), and, due to the lack of data on the agricultural sector, the fourth place is occupied by the construction sector - 137.6 billion drams ($ 284.4 million). The volume of electricity generation in January-July 2020 amounted to 4448.4 million kWh, of which only in July - 646.3 million kWh.
At the same time, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-July 2020 amounted to 1.807 trillion. drams ($ 3.739 billion) with an annual decline of 11.3%. In its structure, the volume of exports underwent an annual decline of 6.4% to 644.6 billion drams ($ 1.334 billion), and imports - by 13.7% to 1.162 trillion. drams ($ 2.405 billion). In July 2020 alone, foreign trade turnover increased by 2.4%, due to an increase in imports by 2.9% with an increase in exports by 1.5%, and compared with July 2019, foreign trade turnover sank by 14.3% due to a decline imports by 18.6% and exports by 5.9%. A year earlier, in January-July 2019, foreign trade turnover increased by 2.3% (only in July - an increase of 6.6%) due to an increase in exports by 3% and imports - by 1.9% (only in July, imports increased by 6.5% with an increase in exports by 6.8%), and compared to July 2018, foreign trade turnover increased by 13% due to an increase in exports by 19.5% and imports by 10%.
The average calculated AMD exchange rate in July 2020 was 484.65 AMD / $ 1, and in January-July - 483.67 AMD / $ 1, versus 476.50 AMD / $ 1 - in July 2019 and 483.07 AMD / $ 1 - in January -July 2019
