ArmInfo. In Armenia, the decline in economic activity in January- October 2020 accelerated to 6.7% per annum, against the background of an accelerating decline in imports and a slowdown in exports.
In October this year against October 2019, economic activity decreased by 8.1%, while in October 2020 alone, it decreased by 4.9% after the September growth by 10.6%. A year earlier, in January-October 2019, against the same period of 2018, economic activity increased by 7.1%, in October compared to October 2018 - by 7.7%, while in October alone, it decreased by 4.7%.
According to the final data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the industries that previously acted as drivers of growth in economic activity are now in decline, amid the coronavirus crisis and martial law, and only the industrial sector and the energy complex were able to maintain growth close to stagnation. Thus, in January-October 2020, the industrial sector was in 0.5% growth, and the energy complex in 1.7% growth. The rest of the sectors showed a decline: construction - by 13.3%, services - by 12.8%, trade - by 12.5%. A year earlier, in January-October 2019, the growth of economic activity was triggered by the service sector - by 15.1%, trade- by 8.9% and the industrial sector - by 8.8%, and in the construction sector, growth slowed down to 4.5%, while the energy complex was in decline by 2.7%. For the agricultural sector, only quarterly data are published.
The industrial product price index increased in January-October 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 by 2%, in October 2020 compared to October 2019 - by 4.1%, and in October 2020 alone decreased by 0.7% after the September growth by 0,9%. A year earlier, in January-October 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, the industrial product price index increased by 0.5%, in October 2019 compared to October 2018 - the same (0.5%), but in October 2019 alone it decreased by 0.9 %.
In monthly terms (in October), only the industrial sector and the construction sector remained in growth - by 3.2% and 3%, respectively, and the industrial sector managed to slightly accelerate the pace from September 3.1%, and the construction sector, on the contrary, significantly slowed down growth from September 9.4%. The rest of the industries in the reporting month went into recession: trade - by 13.4% (from 5.2% growth in September), service sector - by 2.9% (from 4.1% growth in September), and the energy complex slowed down the decline to 1.8% from 3.7% in September. A year earlier, in October 2019, the industries that showed growth were the industrial sector - 8.8%, the construction sector - 2% and the service sector - 0.4%, while trade and the energy complex were in decline - 1.7% and 6.2%, respectively.
In y-o-y terms (October 2020 versus October 2019), only the energy complex and the construction sector maintained growth - by 3% and 0.3%, respectively, and the rest of the fields showed a decline: the service sector - by 21%, the trade sector - by 20.9% , industrial sector - by 3%. A year earlier, in October 2019 versus October 2018, these areas, with the exception of the energy complex, were in growth: services - 12.4%, trade - 10.2%, construction - 5.1%, industrial sector - 2.7%, and the energy complex was in decline by 7.7%. According to statistics in January-October 2020, the absolute leadership is held by the trade sector with a volume of 2.3 trillion drams ($ 4.7 billion). The second position was held by the industrial sector with a volume of 1.6 trillion ($ 3.4 billion), the third position was held by the services sector - 1.4 trillion drams ($ 2.9 billion), the fourth, due to the lack of data on the agricultural sector, is occupied by the construction sector - 271.1 billion drams ($ 559 million). The volume of electricity generation in January-October 2020 amounted to 6357.9 million kWh, of which in October alone- 620.9 million kWh. Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-October 2020 amounted to 2.8 trillion drams ($ 5.7 billion), being in a decline of 11.4% per annum. Moreover, the reduction in import volumes turned out to be more significant - by 14.9% to 1.8 trillion drams ($ 3.6 billion) than exports - by 4.4% to 996 billion drams ($ 2.1 billion). In October 2020, the dynamics of foreign trade turnover reversed from 4.9% growth to 4.3% decline, due to a decline in exports by 12.9% (from 8.7% growth in September) and a slowdown in import growth from 2.7% to 1.2%. And in October 2020, compared to October 2019, a decrease in foreign trade turnover by 18.5% was provoked by a decline in imports by 24.3%, amid a decline in exports by 5.4%. A year earlier, in January-October 2019, an increase in Armenia's foreign trade turnover by 6.5% was provoked by an increase in exports by 7.2% and imports - by 6.2%, in October alone, foreign trade turnover increased by 0.1% due to an increase in imports by 2.1% with a decline in exports by 4.4%, and compared to October 2018, the growth of foreign trade turnover by 11% came mainly from an increase in imports by 15.8% with an increase in exports of only 1.3%.
The average calculated AMD exchange rate was 491.74 AMD / $ 1 in October 2020, and 484.96 AMD / $ 1 in January-October 2020, against 476.3 AMD / $ 1 in October 2019 and 481 AMD / $ 1 in January- October 2019.
