Economic activity growth slows down, foreign trade in decline in Armenia 

ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity growth in January-May 2025 slowed to 5.7% per annum (from 11.2% in the same period of 2024). Moreover, the industrial sector, which acted as a growth driver a year earlier, is weakening the pace of economic growth with the current double- digit decline. According to preliminary data from the RA Statistical Committee, this is accompanied by a deterioration in the foreign trade trend from several-fold growth to a significant decline. 

According to statistics, such a pronounced slowdown in economic activity growth in January-May 2025 was largely due to the deterioration in the annual dynamics of the industrial sector from 22% growth to 14.1% decline and a strong slowdown in the growth of the trade sector from 24.6% to 4.2%. The already low growth rates are also observed in the energy sector - from a meager 1.5% to a stagnant 0.6%. At the same time, the services sector managed to accelerate in  annual growth from 3.7% to 10.1%, which was also observed in the construction sector - from 14.9% to 17.1%.

According to statistical data for January-May 2025, the trade sector holds the lead in absolute value with a volume of 2.4 trillion drams ($6.1 billion). The second place in terms of volume is occupied by the services sector - 1.5 trillion drams ($3.8 billion), the third place is occupied by the industrial sector - 1.03 trillion drams ($2.6 billion), and in fourth place, due to the lack of data on the agricultural sector in this statistical report, is the construction sector - 165.5 billion drams ($421.3 million). The volume of electricity generation in January-May 2025 amounted to 3709.4 million kWh, of which 579.8 million kWh was generated in May alone.

At the same time, in May 2025, compared to May 2024, economic activity, on the contrary, accelerated in growth to 10.4% (from 5.2% a year earlier), and in May alone, growth advanced from 4.3% to 5.4% (against an improvement in the dynamics for May 2024 from a 0.1% decline to 2% growth). Moreover, in May 2025, the dynamics of the industrial sector came out of a 3.9% decline to 2.9% growth, whereas  a year earlier in the same month a decline was recorded with a  slowdown in rates from 13.1% to 0.2%. At the same time, there was an acceleration of growth in the construction sector - from 18% to 24.8%, and an improvement in the dynamics in the service sector - from a 0.8% decline to 1.8% growth. At the same time, the dynamics in the trade sector in May worsened from 1.4% growth to 0.9% decline, and the energy complex lingered in a double-digit decline with an imperceptible slowdown in rates from 15.1% to 11.4%.

In annual terms (May 2025 to May 2024), all sectors demonstrated an upward trend, except for the industrial sector (5.9%) and the energy complex (8.6%), which found themselves in decline. In particular, the construction sector showed the highest annual growth - 22.2%, followed by the services sector - 10.8% and the trade sector - 0.9%. A year earlier, in May 2024 to May 2023, all sectors showed growth: the construction sector - by 18.1%, the trade sector - by 17.6%, the energy complex - by 7.3%, the industrial sector - by 6.9%, and the service sector - by 2.8%.

At the same time, in May 2025, compared to May 2024, economic activity, on the contrary, accelerated in growth to 10.4% (from 5.2% a year earlier), and in May alone, growth advanced from 4.3% to 5.4% (against an improvement in the dynamics for May 2024 from a 0.1% decline to 2% growth). Moreover, in May 2025, the dynamics of the industrial sector came out of a 3.9% decline to 2.9% growth, whereas  a year earlier in the same month a decline was recorded with a  slowdown in rates from 13.1% to 0.2%. At the same time, there was an acceleration of growth in the construction sector - from 18% to 24.8%, and an improvement in the dynamics in the service sector - from a 0.8% decline to 1.8% growth. At the same time, the dynamics in the trade sector in May worsened from 1.4% growth to 0.9% decline, and the energy complex lingered in a double-digit decline with an imperceptible slowdown in rates from 15.1% to 11.4%.

In annual terms (May 2025 to May 2024), all sectors demonstrated an upward trend, except for the industrial sector (5.9%) and the energy complex (8.6%), which found themselves in decline. In particular, the construction sector showed the highest annual growth - 22.2%, followed by the services sector - 10.8% and the trade sector - 0.9%. A year earlier, in May 2024 to May 2023, all sectors showed growth: the construction sector - by 18.1%, the trade sector - by 17.6%, the energy complex - by 7.3%, the industrial sector - by 6.9%, and the service sector - by 2.8%.