Tuesday, April 5 2022 19:45

ArmInfo.In Armenia, in January-February 2022, the energy complex and the service sector were the drivers of double-digit growth economic activity - by 12% per  annum.  

As a comparison, we note that a year earlier, in  January-February 2021, economic activity was in decline by 6.7%, a   more modest increase in this indicator was recorded in the pre-Covid  comparable period (January-February 2019) - by 6.5%.  In February  2022, compared to February 2021, economic activity increased by 9%  (against a 5.3% decline a year earlier and a 7.6% growth in the same  period in 2019), and energy complex and the service sector acted as  drivers in this case as well. And in February alone, thanks to the  high growth rates of the construction and trade sectors, economic  activity increased by 6%, against the 12.4% growth in February 2021  and the 9.3% growth in February 2019. This is evidenced by the final  data of the RA Statistical Committee.

According to statistical data, in January-February, the largest y-o-y  growth, moreover, double-digit, was shown by the energy complex -  21.9% and the service sector - 20.1%, followed by the industrial  sector - 9.7%, the trade sector - 8.2% and the construction sector -  4.9%. Data for the agricultural sector have not been published. A  year earlier (January-February 2021 versus January-February 2020),  only the construction sector showed growth, but with a strong  slowdown to 1%, while other industries were in decline: the service  sector - 12.5%, the trade sector - 11.3%, industrial sector - 7.9%,  energy complex - 5.8%. As a comparison, we note that in the same   period of pre-Covid 2019, the construction sector provided the  largest growth - by 21.6%, the service sector - by 17.5%, the trade  sector - by 13.1%, which compared to which the industry sector showed   incomparably lower growth rates - 1.9%, and the energy sector showed  a 21% decline.

In y-o-y terms (February 2022 to February 2021), the energy complex  and the service sector also showed the largest growth - 25.1% and  19%, respectively, while a year earlier it was in these areas that  the largest decline was recorded by 13.7% and 12.2 %. A more modest  growth was provided by the construction sector, the trade sector and  cthe industrial sector - 6.3%, 5.3% and 3.7%, respectively, and  compared to the dynamics of the previous year, there is an  improvement, in particular in the construction sector - an  acceleration from the previous 1 .1%, and in the trade sector and the  industrial sector - a change from a 7.8% and 5.1% decline,  respectively.

For the same period of the pre-Covid 2019, growth was demonstrated   y the construction sector - by 21.3%, the service sector - by  19.3%, the trade sector - by 8.3%, the industrial sector - by 4.7%,  and the energy complex was in decline by 14.5%.

In February 2022, the only decline was observed in the energy complex  - by 10.3%, while growth was recorded in other sectors, while only  construction and trade showed high rates - 30.8% and 11.9%,  respectively, while the industrial sector and the service sector  showed the same rates 1.4%. A year earlier, in February 2021, the  only decline was also observed in the energy complex - by 14.5%,  while other areas showed growth: the construction sector - 28.4%, the  trade sector - 19.7%, the industrial sector - 15.3%, the service  sector - 4.3%. In pre-Covid 2019, in February, the largest growth was  also shown by the construction and trade sectors - 29% and 18.4%,  respectively, followed by the industrial sector - 8.9% and the  service sector - 5.4%, and the energy complex was then in decline by  6.1%.

The industrial products price index increased in January-February  2022 by 10.7% per annum, with an increase in February by 3.7% and a  y-o-y growth of 12.3% (February 2022 to February 2021). A year  earlier, in January-February 2021, an increase in the price index of  industrial products by 6.2% per annum was recorded, with an increase  in February by 0.5%, and an increase compared to February 2020 by 7%.

In January-February 2022, the absolute value is held by the trade  sector with a volume of 489.5 billion drams ($1.02 billion). The  industrial sector with a volume of 365.3 billion ($759.2 million) is  in the second place, the service sector in  the third - 316.3 billion  drams ($657.4 million), and due to the lack of data from the  agricultural sector traditionally occupying this place, the  construction sector is in the fourth place, with a volume of 32.7  billion drams ($68.04 million). The volume of electricity generation  in January-February 2022 amounted to 1678.9 million kWh, of which  793.7 million in February.

At the same time, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in  January-February 2022 amounted to 683.5 billion drams ($1.4 billion)  with a y-o-y growth of 52.4%. This was the result of high growth in  both exports - by 40.1% to 242.4 billion drams ($503.7 million), and  imports - by 60.2% to 441.1 billion drams ($917 million). In February  2022 alone, foreign trade turnover increased by 11.9% due to an  increase in imports by 17.7% and exports by 2.1%. In February 2022,  compared to February 2021, the growth of foreign trade turnover by  44.9% was provoked by an increase in imports by 54.7% and exports by  29.1%. A year earlier, in January-February 2021, the foreign trade  turnover was in decline by 12.2% due to a decline in exports by 5.5%  and imports by 15.8%, only in February 2021 the growth of exports and  imports by 21.8% and 26 .9%, respectively, led to an increase in  foreign trade turnover by 24.9%, and compared to February 2020, a  decline in imports by 13.6% and exports by 2% provoked a decrease in  foreign trade turnover by 9.5%.

The average settlement rate of the dram in January-February 2022 was  481.12 AMD/$1, and in February 2022 - 480.24 AMD/$1, against 522.37  AMD/$1 in January-February 2021 and 523.54 AMD/$1 in February 2021