Wednesday, July 7 2021 11:41

ArmInfo. In Armenia, in January-May 2021 economic activity increased by 4.3% per annum (against a 3.9% decline a year earlier), accompanied by an increase in exports and the growth of imports. In May of this year, by May 2020, economic  activity increased by 10.9% (against a decline of 12.8% a year  earlier), while demonstrating an increase of 2% in May 2021 alone  (against 13.3% growth in May 2020).

According to the final data of the Statistical Committee of the  Republic of Armenia, the growth of economic activity in January-May  2021 was largely determined by the construction sector - by 14.3% and  the trade sector - by 7.4%, and to a lesser extent - by the  industrial sector by 2.3%, the energy complex by 2% and the service  sector by 0.9%. A year earlier, in January-May 2020, the construction  sector, the trade sector and the service sector fell into recession -  by 23.4%, 10.8% and 4.2%, respectively, and only the industrial  sector and the energy complex remained in growth by 2.4% and 8.3%,  respectively.  In January-May 2021, the industrial product price  index compared to the same period in 2019 increased by 9%, in May  2021 compared to May 2020 - by 12.5%, and in May 2021 alone - by 1%.  A year earlier, in similar periods, almost the same dynamics was  recorded, but the indicators were much lower: in January- May 2020,  the industrial product price index in comparison with the same period  of 2019 increased by 0.3%, in May 2020 to May 2019 - by 1.1 %, and in  May 2020 alone decreased by 0.3%.

On a monthly terms (for May 2021), the decisive impetus to the growth  of economic activity was given by the construction sector with an  increase in volume by 17.9% (against an increase of 3.1 times in May  2020), followed by trade in terms of growth rates - by 6% ( against  an increase of 33.3% in May 2020), the industrial sector - by 3.4%  (against an increase of 11.9% in May 2020), and the service sector -  by 3.4% (against an increase of 0.8% in May 2020). The energy complex  remained in decline, accelerating to 12.9% from 2% a year earlier.

On a y-o-y terms (May 2021 to May 2020), growth in economic activity  was observed in all industries, except for the energy complex, which  accelerated the decline to 3.1%. Thus, the trade sector increased its  turnover by 17.6%, the service sector increased its volumes by 17.3%,  the industrial sector - by 7.9%, the construction sector - by 0.5%. A  year earlier, in May 2020 to May 2019, there was a decline in all  industries: construction - 27%, services - 19.4%, trade sector -  18.4%, industrial sector - 3.9%, energy complex - 0.1%.

According to statistics in January-May 2021, the absolute leadership  is held by the trading sector with a volume of 1.2 trillion drams ($  2.3 billion). The second place is held by the industrial sector -  840.7 billion drams ($ 1.6 billion), the third place is taken by the  service sector - 703.1 billion drams ($ 1.3 billion). The fourth  place was traditionally occupied by agriculture, but due to the lack  of data, this place was taken by the construction sector - 94.5  billion drams ($ 180.4 million). The volume of electricity generation  amounted to 3310.3 million kWh in January-May 2021, of which only in  May - 557.3 million kWh.

At the same time, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-May  2021 amounted to 1.5 trillion drams ($ 2.9 billion) with a y-o-y  growth of 11.6%. In its structure, the volume of exports increased on  a y-o-y terms by 20.8% to 567.4 billion drams ($ 1.1 billion), and  imports - by 6.7% to 931.8 billion drams ($ 1.8 billion).  In May  2021 alone, foreign trade turnover increased by 3.9% due to an  increase in exports by 7.9% with an increase in imports by 1.5%, and  compared to May 2020, an increase in foreign trade turnover by 35.3%  was almost equally provoked by the growth of exports by 36.7% and  imports by 34.5%. A year earlier, in January-May 2020, foreign trade  turnover decreased by 11.2% per annum due to a decline in imports by  12.8% and exports by 8.1%, and the May increase in foreign trade  turnover by 13% was due to an upward trend in exports by 30.7% with  an increase in imports by 4.3%, compared to May 2019, the decline in  foreign trade turnover by 17.3% was largely due to a decline in  imports by 21.8%, rather than exports by 8.7%.

The average calculated AMD exchange rate in May 2020 was 521.35 AMD /  $ 1, and in January-May 2020 - 523.87 AMD / $ 1, against 484.12 AMD /  $ 1 May 2020 and 483.95 AMD / $ 1 in January-May 2020.

To note, according to the forecast of the World Bank (WB) updated in  June, GDP growth in Armenia in 2021 will be 3.4%. In terms of  Armenia's foreign trade, the WB forecasts export and import growth by  8.7% and 8.3% for 2021, respectively. In its May forecast, the IMF  expected GDP growth by 1% in Armenia for 2021. The new forecast of  the Central Bank of Armenia (June) foreshadows GDP growth in 2021 by  4.6%, export growth by 7-9% and imports by 5-7%. According to  statistics, the GDP of Armenia in 2020 decreased by 7.4% - to 6.2  trillion drams (against an increase of 7.6% - to 6.5 trillion drams  in 2019).