Price index of industrial products is decreasing in Armenia

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the price index of industrial products decreased in Jan-Feb 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 to 99.6% from 100.8% a year earlier. Such a trend is observed against the backdrop of a sharp acceleration in the y-o-y growth of the industrial sector from 1% to 28.9%, providing volumes of 461.6 billion drams ($1.1 billion), by preliminary data from the RA Statistical Committee.

According to statistics, the price index of industrial products also  fell to 99.4 %t in Feb2024 compared to Feb2023, slightly lower than a  year ago, when it was 99.9 %t in Feb 2023 compared to Feb 2022.  During this period under review, the industrial sector showed a high  growth in volumes of 36.4%, whereas a year ago it barely remained at  a stagnant 0.7%.

Notably, during these considered periods, a deflation was recorded in  the consumer market of Armenia. In particular, in Jan-Feb 2024,  compared to the same period of 2023, the inflation was 1.3%, and in  Feb 2024, compared to Feb 2023, the inflation was 1.7%, compared to  the inflation of 8.1% in the same period a year ago. Moreover,  deflation in the consumer market was mainly supported by a decrease  in food prices: By 5.2% in Jan-Feb 2024 compared to the same period  in 2023, and by 5.9%  in Feb 2024 compared to Feb 2023, while a year  earlier, during the same periods, an increase in food prices was  recorded - by 9.6% and 9.7%, respectively.

Notably, such trends are accompanied by an acceleration acceleration  of economic activity growth in Armenia in Jan-Feb 2024 from 10.9% to  13.6% per annum, and from 11.3% to 16.3%in Feb 2024 by Feb2023. 

In parallel, there was an up to 2-fold acceleration of the y-o-y  growth of foreign trade turnover in Jan-Feb 2024, from 77.7% in the  same period of 2023, as a result of the accelerated growth of both  exports- from 96.4% to 2.6-fold and imports - from 67.4% to 73.2%.

 Moreover, in Feb 2024, compared to Feb2023, the volume of foreign  trade accelerated in growth to 2.2- fold (from 79.5% a year earlier)  due to the acceleration of export growth to 2.9-fold (from 2.1-fold a  year earlier) and imports from 62.3% to 79.9%. (The average  settlement exchange rate for the dram was 404.61 AMD/$1 in Jan-Feb  2024).