All that glitters is not gold: Economy Minister continues to insist  on limited impact of gold re-export on GDP

ArmInfo.  Gold re-export does not significantly contribute to GDP, as stated by Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan in parliament on June 9.  To support his  argument, the Minister presented export volumes for 2023 and 2024, both with and without gold re-export. According to him, in 2023, total export deliveries were 8.5 billion drams, while excluding re-export - 6.8 billion drams. In 2024, exports reaches 13.1 billion drams, with non re-export  exports totaling 7.5 billion drams.

Thanks to re-export, according to him, only a few people in the  country became wealthy. However,  in the context of the economy and the creation of public goods, this phenomenon did not play a significant role.  Papoyan pointed out that  despite a decrease of over  50% in exports  in the first few months of 2025,  the GDP still showed growth of 5.2%. This further confirms that the reduction in re-export has a minimal impact on  the country's GDP. 

Note that according to the RA Statistical Committee, transactions involving precious metals and stones in Armenia's foreign trade began to decline in 2025. In Q1 2025, these transactions amounted to $967.6 million, a decrease of 21.6%  compared to 66.1% $6.5 billion a year ago. This category of goods became the main reason for the deterioration in the annual dynamics of the country's foreign trade turnover, which shifted from a 212% growth to a 54.2% decline. During  the reporting period, the share of imports and exports of precious metals and stones in total trade turnover fell to 15.7% and 31.3%, respectively, compared to 59.4% and 74.2% in the same period last year. In terms of volume, $435.9 million was imported and $531.7 million was exported in the first quarter. This represents  an 86.2% decrease  in imports and an 83.9% decrease in exports.