ArmInfo.Russia holds the leadership among Armenia's foreign trade partners. According to the RA Statistical Committee, Russia is leading not only in terms of the total volume of foreign trade, but also in terms of exports and imports in particular.
This is evidenced by the data of the RA Statistical Committee, according to which the foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Russia exceeded $2.6 billion in January-August 2022 with a sharp acceleration in y-o-y growth from 11.8% to 71.7%, mainly due to multifold growth in exports.
In particular, the volume of exports of goods from Armenia to Russia significantly accelerated the y-o-y growth from 30.9% to 2-fold, which, at a slightly less restrained upward pace, was also observed in the volume of imports of goods from Russia to Armenia - from 4% to 55.3%, with the volumes of $1.062 million and $1.580 billion, respectively.
As a result, Russia's share in Armenia's foreign trade turnover increased from 30.7% to 33.8% year-on- year, and a noticeable increase in the share in exports from 27.3% to 36.3% was accompanied by a slight decrease in the share in imports from 32.8% % to 32.2%.
China holds the 2nd place in terms of foreign trade turnover, particularly export and import. But, unlike Russia, the y-o-y growth in the volume of foreign trade between Armenia and China accelerated more moderately in January-August - from 31.9% to 38.5%, reaching $1.022 billion. Moreover, the growth was supported by a noticeable acceleration of the upward trend of imports - from 12.7% to 69.9%, while the dynamics of exports reversed from 84.4% growth to a 14.2% decline, as a result of which the volumes of exports and imports towards China amounted to $236.98 million and $784.8 million, respectively. The share of China in the foreign trade turnover of Armenia decreased year-on-year from 14.7% to 13.1%, against the backdrop of a significant decline in the share in exports from 14.4% to 8. 1% with a moderate increase in the share in imports from 14.9% to 16%.
Iran ranks 3rd both in terms of total foreign trade turnover and in terms of imports. Thus, the y-o-y growth in the volume of foreign trade between Armenia and Iran continues to accelerate - from 15.3% to 43.4%, reaching $427.4 million. This was driven by an improvement in the trend of exports from a decline of 28.9% to an increase of 82.6%, and an accelerated growth in imports from 27.9% to 37.1%, the absolute value of which, according to the results of 8 months of this year, reached $74.4 million and $353 million, respectively. However, Iran's share in Armenia's foreign trade turnover decreased year-on-year from 6% to 5.5%, and the decline in the share in imports from 8.3% to 7.2% was accompanied by an imperceptible increase in the share in exports from 2.1% to 2. 6%.
Germany holds the 4th place both in terms of foreign trade turnover ($284.5 million with a y-o-y growth of 58.4%) and in terms of imports ($210.8 million with a y-o-y growth of 64.9%). And the countries continue to replace each other in the 5th place month by month in terms of foreign trade with Armenia, and in January-August 2022, the UAE closed the top five - $ 265.2 million, with a y-o-y increase of 3.5-fold, due to a 4.5-fold sharp increase in export volumes - up to $229.5 million, taking the 3rd place on this indicator.
After Russia and China, UAE, Switzerland ($184.3 million) and Bulgaria ($175.7 million) hold the next three places in terms of exports, and Iran, Germany and the United States ($187.1 million) in terms of imports. Moreover, in the direction of Switzerland, the decline in exports by 16.4% was accompanied by a slight 3.8% increase in imports, in the direction of Bulgaria, the opposite picture was observed - an increase in exports by 6% with a decline in imports by 24.4%, and in the direction of the United States, an 2.9-fold increase of imports was recorded, with a decline in exports by 4.9%.
Among the top five countries in terms of foreign trade with Armenia, four countries maintain a negative balance, and only the UAE has a positive balance. Thus, the negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with Russia increased in January-August 2022 by 4.5% per annum to $517.7 million, with China - increased 3-fold to $547.8 million, with Iran - by 28.6% to $278.6 million, with Germany - increased 2- fold to $137 million, and the positive balance of the UAE increased 7.4-fold- to $193.9 million.
In total, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-August 2022 exceeded $7.8 billion, with a y-o-y increase of 56.2% (from 12.7% a year earlier). In particular, an increase in volumes was observed both in exports - by 52.9% to $2.9 billion, and in imports - by 58.2% to $4.9 billion, while a year earlier both items showed moderate growth - exports by 21.8 % and imports by 7.7%.
The foreign trade turnover of Armenia with the EAEU countries in January-August 2022 amounted to $2.8 billion, with a sharp acceleration in y-o-y growth from 11% to 74.1%, against the backdrop of a tangible increase in both -in exports - 2-fold (from 30.8% a year earlier) - to $1.1 billion, and in imports - by 58.7% (from 2.9% a year earlier) - up to $1.7 billion. And Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EU countries in January-August 2022 accelerated y-o-y growth from 22.8% to 36%, reaching $1.4 billion, due to a sharp acceleration in import growth from 7.9% to 44.8%, while export growth slowed down from 49.9% to 24.5%, the volumes of which amounted to $827.1 million and $544.8 million, respectively. As a result, the negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade increased by 66.8% from a 9.3% decrease in January-August 2022, reaching $1.98 billion. In particular, the negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with the EAEU countries increased in January-August 2022 by 10, 5% per annum - up to $561 million, and with the EU countries it increased 2.1-fold - up to $282.4 million, while a year earlier there was a decline in the balance of 16.3-43.7%.
It should be noted that, the forecasted growth of export and import for 2022 by the Central Bank of RA (in September) and the World Bank (in October) has been improved to double digits. In particular, the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia expects an increase in exports by 28% and imports by 24%, while the WB expects a more modest 16.3% in exports and 18.6% in imports.
