CB Governor points to downward trend in exports and imports

ArmInfo. To some extent, there is a downward trend in exports and imports in Armenia, despite the fact that the past year was specific in the context of re-exports.  Martyn Galstyan, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, stated at a press conference on July 30, commenting on a study published days earlier, which noted that when removing the share of gold re- exports, Armenia's exports decrease by 15.6%, and imports by 10%. 

In this regard, he outlined that the amount of re-exports in the economy was quite high in 2023 and added that when comparing the current volumes of exports and imports with the usual time period, the volume of exports and imports is higher today than in previous years. 

Referring to the remark whether Armenia will return to the pre-crisis indicators in the absence of re- exports, Galstyan answered: "We're not going to be back to the level we had in 2019 or 2020, we're going to be at higher levels." To note that according to preliminary data from the Statistics Committee of the Republic of Armenia, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in the first half of 2024 exceeded 7.3 trillion AMD (over $18.4 billion), with an acceleration of the already high annual growth rate to 2 times (from 72.9% in the same period of 2023). This is due to the acceleration of high annual growth rates of both exports - from 72.8% to 2.3 times, and imports - from 73% to 86.5%, the absolute value of which amounted to 3.1 trillion and 4.2 trillion AMD ($7.9 billion and $10.5 billion), respectively. Over the past two years, the sectoral structure of exports and imports in Armenia's foreign trade has changed. In particular, if until 2022, mineral raw materials and finished food products dominated in terms of export volumes, and the same products plus machinery, equipment and mechanisms in terms of import volumes, then over the past year the picture has begun to change from month to month and jewelry products have taken the lead.  However, regarding the latter, we note that the dynamics of production in this segment in January-May 2024 turned from 62.4% growth towards stagnation, and the volume received is several times lower than the volumes of exports and imports - $69.4 million against $5.2-5.6 billion, thereby indicating re-export and re-import. It was the latter that spurred the growth rate of exports and imports of precious metals/stones and products made from them to accelerate from last year's 3.4-4 times to the current 8.3-9.8 times. This, in turn, quite significantly increased the dominance of jewelry products in Armenia's foreign trade from 16% to 66% on an annual basis, incl. in exports - from 22% to 73.5% and in imports - from 12.3% to 60.4%, while in the industrial sector the share of the jewelry indu negligible - 2.3%.