Slower economic activity growth in Armenia in Jan-Nov, 2023

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the  growth of economic activity in January-November 2023 slowed to 9.4%  per annum (from last year's 14.4%), accompanied by a very noticeable  slowdown in the upward dynamics of exports and imports.

According to statistics, the growth in economic activity in  January-November 2023 was largely due to the trade sector - by 24.3%  per annum, and to a slightly lesser extent the construction sector -  by 15.6% and the service sector - by 11.1%, against the background of  which the growth of the industrial sector turned out to be scanty -  2.1%. The dynamics of the energy complex sharply deteriorated from  16.8% growth to 4.3% decline. Data from the agricultural sector are  not available, as they are published only in quarterly and annual  reports. A year earlier, in January-November 2022, all of these areas  showed growth: the service sector - by 28.2%, the energy complex - by  16.8%, the trade sector - by 16.2%, the construction sector - by  13.9%, the industrial sector - by 8.4%.

According to statistical data for January-November 2023, in absolute  value the leadership is held by the trade sector with a volume of 4.8  trillion. drams ($12.3 billion). The second place in terms of volume  is occupied by the service sector - 2.7 trillion drams ($7 billion),  the third is the industrial sector - 2.4 trillion ($6.2 billion), and  the fourth position, due to the lack of data on the agricultural  sector, is occupied by the construction sector - 492.9 billion drams  ($1.3 billion). The volume of electricity generation in January-  November 2023 amounted to 7655.2 million kWh, of which in November  alone - 708.5 million kWh.

At the same time, in November of this year. by November 2022,  economic activity also slowed down in growth to 11.2% (from 13.8% a  year earlier), and in November alone the dynamics reached 0.6% growth  from the October 1.4% decline (vs. deepening of the decline for  November 2022 from 2% to 4%). It is noteworthy that the November  increase in economic activity mainly came from the acceleration of  double- digit growth in the industrial sector to 26.8% (from 10.9% in  October).

On an annual basis (November 2023 to November 2022), all sectors  showed an upward trend, with the exception of the energy complex,  which experienced an 11.9% decline. In particular, the trade sector  showed the highest annual growth - by 32.1%, followed by the  industrial sector - 23.8%, the construction sector - 11.4%, and the  service sector - 2.4%. Moreover, such high growth in the industrial  sector, according to statistical data, is due to a 13.7-fold jump in  jewelry production volumes. A year earlier, in November 2022 by  November 2021, only the industrial sector was in decline (by 2.3%),  while other sectors showed growth: the service sector - by 30.9%, the  trade sector - by 22.1%, the energy sector - by 17 .3%, construction  sector - by 11.3%.

Against this background, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in  January-November 2023 exceeded 7 trillion.  drams ($17.9 billion),  slowing down in annual growth to 42.4% (from last year's 67.8%). This  is due to the slowdown in annual growth of both exports - from 75.2%  to 44.7%, and imports - from 63.6% to 41%, the absolute value of  which amounted to 2.7 trillion and 4.3 trillion drams ($6.9 billion  and $10.9 billion).

In November 2023, compared to November 2022, foreign trade turnover  increased by 48.2% due to an increase in exports by 85.7% and imports  by 25%, while in last year's annual dynamics (November 2022 compared  to November 2021) there was a much higher an increase in foreign  trade turnover by 74.5% provoked by a jump in exports by 95.8% and  imports by 63.9%.

The average settlement exchange rate of the dram was 402.52 dr/$1 in  November 2023, and 391.39 dr/$1 in January-November 2023.