ArmInfo. By the end of 2023, for the first time, Armenia's foreign trade turnover will exceed 110% of the country's GDP, and the negative balance of foreign trade will approach zero. Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated on February 6 at a plenary session of Parliament.
He noted that the policies pursued in the economic sector will enable the achievement of the government's goal of 60 percent of the ratio of exports of goods and services to GDP.
Answering a question from opposition MP Artur Khachatryan about how such a significant increase in exports (by 55.3%, ed. note) is possible with a 5% growth in industry and a decline in the agricultural sector, Kerobyan emphasized that Armenian agricultural statistics are not based on indicators, but on assessments.
In this regard, he expressed hope that the projects planned this year will change these approaches. "We see multi-billion dollar investments in agriculture. In our opinion, official statistics do not properly reflect the real state of affairs in this area," he emphasized. According to statistical data, Armenia's agricultural sector has decreased to 0.3% from 0.4% growth in 2022, providing a volume of 948 billion drams. Moreover, the decline was provoked by livestock farming, the volume of which decreased by 3.4% over the year, while the volume of crop production increased by 2.7%.
Armenia's foreign trade turnover exceeded $20.7 billion at the end of 2023, with growth slowing to 46% (from 68.6% in 2022). In particular, a slowdown in volume growth rates was observed both for exports - from 77.7% to 55.3% to $5.4 billion, and for imports - from 63.5% to 40.2%, the absolute value of which amounted to $8.4 billion and $12.3 billion. As a result, the negative balance of foreign trade of Armenia for 2023, having slowed down from 47.8% to 14.7%, reached $3.9 billion.
