ArmInfo.Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EAEU countries in January-December 2020, compared to the same period of 2019, decreased by 2.6% (against 15.1% growth a year earlier), amounting to $ 2.2 billion.
The negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with the EAEU countries amounted to $ 842.4 million, an increase of 8.6% over 12 months (against an increase of 26.4% a year earlier) against the background of an increase in imports by 0.2% to $ 1.5 billion with a decline in exports by 8.3% to $ 705.3 million (against an increase in imports by 17.6% and exports by 10.5% a year earlier). This is evidenced by the final data of the RA Statistical Committee.
According to statistics, the downward trend in Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EAEU countries determined Russia and Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus and Kazakhstan showed growth. In particular, foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Russia decreased by 3.5% per annum (against 14.9% growth a year earlier), and with Kyrgyzstan - by 63.2% (against 2.6-fold increase a year earlier). At the same time, the annual growth of foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Belarus slowed down from 33.6% to 17.4%, and with Kazakhstan it changed from the 38.4% decline by 96% growth.
Russia holds the lead both in terms of the total volume of foreign trade turnover ($ 2.2 billion) and in exports and imports ($ 676 million and $ 1.5 billion, respectively). Exports with Russia reversed the trend from 10.3% growth to 9% decline, which was also observed in imports from 17.4% growth to 0.7% decline.
In the structure of Armenia's foreign trade with the EAEU countries, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan follow in terms of volume after Russia - $ 79.6 million, $ 16.3 million and $ 2.1 million, respectively. The export of Armenian goods to Belarus increased by 18.7% to $ 21.3 million, while imports in this direction increased by 16.9% to $ 58.3 million, against the growth of these indicators a year earlier by 49.2% and 28.8%, respectively. In the direction of Kazakhstan, exports increased by 19.3% to $ 6.4 million, while imports jumped 3.4-fold to $ 9.9 million, against the decline in these indicators a year earlier by 45% and 20.9%, respectively. Exports of Armenian goods to Kyrgyzstan decreased by 48.7% to $ 1.6 million with a decline in imports by 82.3% to $ 420.8 thousand, while in 2019 exports in this direction showed an increase of 3.2 -fold with a decline in imports by 34.6 %.
The share of Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EAEU countries in the total structure of foreign trade amounted to 31.7% at the end of 2020 against 28.3% in 2019. Moreover, the share of Russia increased from 27.3% to 30.3%, Belarus- from 0.8% to 1.1%, Kazakhstan - from 0.1% to 0.2%, and Kyrgyzstan, on the contrary, decreased from 0.1% to 0.03%. Namely, in the structure of Armenia's foreign trade with the EAEU countries, the share of Russia is 95.7%, Belarus - 3.5%, Kazakhstan - 0.7%, Kyrgyzstan - 0.1%. In total, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-December 2020 amounted to $ 7.1 billion, being in a decline of 13.2% per annum (against an increase of 10.4% a year earlier). In particular, the decline in imports turned out to be more significant - by 17.7% to $ 4.6 billion, than exports - by 3.9% to $ 2.5 billion, against the growth of these items a year earlier by 10.8% and 9.4%, respectively. As a result, the negative foreign trade balance of Armenia decreased by 30.3% per annum in 2020 (against 12.7% growth in 2019), amounting to $ 2 billion.