Tuesday, September 5 2023 14:33

ArmInfo. The growth of economic activity in Armenia in Jan-July 2023 slowed down to 10.4%  per annum (from 13.1% a year earlier), affecting the pace of exports  and imports. In July of this year by July 2022, the growth of  economic activity slowed down more noticeably - to 6% (from 19.4% a  year earlier), while  in July 2023 alone slowing growth to 7.6% from  June 9.9%, which was more pronounced in July 2022 - up to 8.5% from  June 17%, according to  the final data of the RA Statistical  Committee.

The growth of economic activity in Jan-July 2023 was largely  determined by the trade sector - 23%, and a little less by the  construction sector -  17.2% as well as by the service sector -  14.9%, against which the growth of the industrial sector slowed down  to 0.5% stagnation, and the energy complex was in a 3.5% decline.  Starting from 2019, data on the agricultural sector are published  only once a quarter in the reports of the statistical committee. A  year earlier, in Jan-July 2022, all these sectors showed growth: the  service sector - 27.5%, the energy complex - 14.9%, the construction  sector - 13.6%, the trade sector - 12.5%, the industrial sector - 7%.

The price index of industrial products in Jan-July 2023 did not  change compared to the same period in 2022, while increasing 6.9% in  July 2023 compared to July 2022 by, and in July 2023 compared to June  3 alone, growth slowed to 0.1%. A year earlier, in similar periods, a  different dynamics was recorded: in Jan- July 2022 compared to the  same period in 2021 the price index of industrial products increased  by 6.3%, in July 2022 compared to July 2021 it decreased by 2.2%, and  in July 2022 alone it accelerated in the decline to 4.9% from 2.9% in  June.

On a monthly term(for July 2023), the construction sector gave a  decisive impetus to the growth of economic activity, despite a strong  slowdown in rates from June 20.1% to the current 12%, thereby  repeating last year's slowdown in the uptrend - from June 21.9% to  July 12.5%. Next in terms of growth is the trade sector, accelerating  from 5.5% in June to 9.4% in July, while a year earlier, growth  slowed from 12.8% to 9.3% in July. The energy complex slowed down in  growth from 8.3% in June to 4.5% in July, while last year growth  accelerated from 6.4% in June to double-digit 13.8% in July. They are  far behind the industrial sector, which slowed down growth from 2.8%  in June to 1.3% in July, which is very different from the July  dynamics of last year, when a deterioration to a 3.2% decline was  recorded (from June 17.1% growth). The services sector showed the  least growth in July - 1%, as in June - a meager 0.7%, which  nevertheless looks better than the July dynamics of last year, when  8% growth was replaced by a 0.3% decline.

In y-o-y terms (July 2023 to July 2022), the growth of economic  activity was observed not in all industries, in particular, the  energy complex and the industrial sector slid into recession by 8.5%  and 2.4%, respectively (against growth by 15.6% and 13.7 % a year  earlier). The largest growth was provided by the trade sector and the  construction sector - by 20.4% and 17.8%, respectively, showing  almost the same rates a year earlier - 21.3% and 16.8%. As for the  service sector, here the y-o-y growth rate has slowed down  significantly - from last year's leading 30.6% to the current 5.8%.   According to statistical data in Jan-July 2023, the leadership in  absolute terms is held by the trading sector with a volume of 2.8  trillion drams ($7.1 billion). The services sector returned to the  second place- 1.7 trillion drams ($4.3 billion), displacing the  industrial sector to the third place - 1.4 trillion drams ($3.6  billion). And, due to the lack of data on the agricultural sector,  the fourth place is occupied by the construction sector - 222.5  billion drams ($571.4 million). The volume of electricity generation  in Jan-July 2023 amounted to 4938.8 million kWh, of which 668.6  million kWh in July alone.

Against this background, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in Jan-July  2023 exceeded 4 trillion drams ($10.4 billion), with an acceleration  of y-o-y growth from 47.7% to 62.6%. This was due to the acceleration  of growth in both exports and imports. In particular, the volume of  exports increased in y-o-y terms by 62.1% to 1.5 trillion drams ($3.8  billion), and imports - by 63% to 2.5 trillion drams ($6.5 billion),  which was observed at a somewhat modest pace a year earlier - 43.9%  for exports and 50.1% for imports. In July 2023 alone, the foreign  trade turnover lingered in the decline with a slowdown from 7.4% in  June to the reported 2.4% due to delayed imports in the recession  with an acceleration of rates from 5.2% to 6.6%, with the dynamics of  exports from 11% decline by 5.3% growth, while a year earlier the  reversal of the dynamics of foreign trade turnover from June 20.2%  growth on the July 0.5% decline was due to the deterioration of the  export trend from 38.2% growth to 4.9% decline and slowdown in import  growth from 10.4% to 2.5%. And in July 2023, compared to July 2022, a  strong slowdown in the growth of foreign trade turnover from 67.7% to  18.1% was provoked by the same slowdown in the growth of exports from  82.2% to 15.6% and imports from 58.8% to 19.7%.

The average settlement rate of the dram in July 2023 was 386.54 AMD /  $1, and in Jan-July 2023 - 389.33 AMD / $1, against 410.03 AMD / $1 -  in July 2022 and 460.06 AMD / $1 - in January-July 2022