Economic activity decreased by 5.7% in Armenia in Jan-July 2020

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 against July 2019, economic activity had  declined by 10.2%, with volumes dropping across all industries. 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 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, this  indicator grew by 8.1%, and in July 2018 alone, an increase of 12.8%  was recorded.

According to the operative 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 9.3%.  At the same time, the observed weak growth of the industrial sector  by 1.3% and the energy complex by 3.4% turned out to be 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 compared to  July 2019 it increased by 3.7%, and in July 2020 alone 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 in July 2018  alone it decreased by 0.1%.

In monthly terms (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%, and the energy  complex - by 2.4%.

In y-o-y terms (July 2020 versus 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 versus July 2018, the highest growth was shown  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 remained in decline with a slowdown 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 is 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 in July alone - 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 a y-o-y  decline of 11.3%. In its structure, the volume of exports underwent a  y-o-y 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 to July 2019, foreign trade turnover sank by 14.3% due to a  decline of imports by 18.6% and exports by 5.9%. A year earlier, in  January-July 2019, foreign trade turnover increased by 2.3% (in July  alone - an increase of 6.6%) due to an increase in exports by 3% and  imports - by 1.9% (in July alone, 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