In Armenia, industrial price index continues to rise amid  double-digit growth in industrial production

ArmInfo.In Armenia, the industrial price index continues to rise amid double-digit growth in industrial production. From January toAugust 2024, the industrial price index reached 102.9%, compared to 100.9% the previous year. 

This increase coincided with an improvement in the annual dynamics of  the industrial sector during the same period, transitioning from a  0.1% decline to a 13.7% growth, with total production reaching 1.9  trillion ($4.8 billion). This is evidenced by preliminary data from  the RA Statistical Committee.  According to preliminary statistics,  in August 2024, the industrial price index was 103.5% compared to  August 2023. In contrast, in August 2023, compared to August 2022,  the index was significantly higher - 107.6%. The industrial sector   in August 2024, also showed a modest growth in volumes by 2.1%  compared to the previous year, where there was a 3.7% decline.

 During the periods under review, either deflation or low inflation  was observed in the Armenian consumer market. In particular, from  January to August 2024, there was a deflation of 0.1% compared to the  same period in 2023. In August 2024, inflation was recorded at 1.3%  compared to August 2023, which had an inflation rate of 3.1% and  deflation of 0.2%. Moreover, annual deflation in the consumer market  in January-August 2024 was influenced by a 2.3% decrease in food  prices. In contrast, annual inflation in August 2024 was driven by a  1.3% increase in food prices, while utility rates continued to rise  during these periods. 

For comparison, we observed the following trends in food prices in  2023, an annual increase of 1.9%  from January to August, followed by   a of 2.7 % decrease in August.  During these periods there was also a  rise in service prices. It is worth noting that these changes  occurred amidst a slowdown in Armenia's economic activity, decreasing  from 10.4% to 9% annually from January to August 2024, and  experiencing a more significant drop from 10.9% in August 2023 to  5.6% in August 2024. 

In parallel with this, from January to August 2024, there was an  acceleration of the already high annual growth rate of foreign trade  turnover from 53% to 86.8%. This was a result of more pronounced  acceleration of export growth, increasing from 51.8% to 2.1 times,  compared to import growth, which increased from 53.8% to 70.9%.  At   the same time, the growth rate of foreign trade turnover in August  2024 compared to August 2023 accelerated from 10% to 33.3%, which was  due to a sharp increase in export growth from 6.1% to 58.1%, with a  less noticeable acceleration in import growth from 12.4% to 18.7%.  (The average settlement exchange rate of the AMD in January-August  2024 was AMD 394.08  / $ 1).