ArmInfo. Armenia's economic activity growth slowed to 7.1% in January-August 2025 (down from 9% in the same period in 2024). Moreover, the industrial sector, which was one of a key drivers of growth the previous year, is weakening the pace of economic growth with its current downturn.
According to preliminary data from the RA Statistics Committee, there is a shift in the foreign trade trend from significant growth to a significant decline. According to statistics, the slowdown in economic activity in January-August 2025 was largely due to a deterioration in the annual dynamics of the industrial sector, from 13.7% growth to a 7.8% decline, and a sharp slowdown in trade, from 20.4% to 3.9%. Significant growth was observed in the energy sector, from 0.6% to 3.6%. Meanwhile, the service sector managed to accelerate its annual growth from 5.2% to 10.2%, which was also observed at a more pronounced pace in the construction sector, from 16.2% to 20.4%. Data for the agricultural sector is unavailable, as the Statistics Committee only reports it in quarterly and annual reports.
According to statistics for January-August 2025, the trade sector retains the lead in absolute terms, with a volume of 4.1 trillion drams ($10.6 billion). The services sector comes second in terms of volume with 2.6 trillion drams ($6.7 billion), followed by the industrial sector with 1.8 trillion drams ($4.5 billion), the construction sector with 374.9 billion drams ($962.7 million), due to the lack of data for the agricultural sector. Power generation in January-August 2025 amounted to 5951.9 million kWh, with 854 million kWh generated in August alone.
In August 2025, the economic activity accelerated compared to August 2024, reaching 7.5% (from 5.6% a year earlier), with growth in August alone accelerating from 5% to 5.4% (compared to a more pronounced acceleration in August 2024 from 5.6% to 7.2%). Moreover, in August 2025, industrial sector growth accelerated from 7.4% to 10.7%, which was observed in more modest figures a year earlier - from 2% to 7.5%. In August, growth in the construction sector increased from 15.2% to 19.4%, and in the services sector - from 0.8% to 3.8%. However, growth slowed significantly in the energy complex, dropping from 25.3% to 10.6% and in the trade sector - from 7% to 1.2%. In annual terms (August 2025 vs. August 2024), all sectors demonstrated an upward trend: the construction sector demonstrated the highest annual growth rate of 21.1%, followed by the energy sector (13%), services (6.7%), industrial sector (5.8%), and trade (1.7%). A year earlier, in August 2024 vs. August 2023, only the energy sector showed a decline of 2.4%, while other sectors experienced growth: construction (16.5%), trade (14.9%), services (9.5%), and industrial sector (2.1%).
Against this background, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-August 2025 amounted to 5 trillion. AMD ($12.9 billion), a decline of 41.1% year-on-year (versus 70.9% growth a year ago). This is due to a significant decline in both exports and imports-by 48.8% and 34.9% year-on-year, respectively, while last year both indicators demonstrated significant growth-by 2.1 times (exports) and 86.8% (imports). As a result, the absolute value of exports for January-August 2025 amounted to 1.9 trillion AMD ($5 billion), and imports-3.1 trillion AMD ($7.9 billion). In August 2025, compared to August 2024, foreign trade turnover fell by 33.7% due to a 40.8% decline in exports and a 28.3% decline in imports. A year earlier, in August 2024, compared to August 2023, foreign trade turnover grew by 33.3% due to an increase in exports by 58.1% and imports by 18.7%.
It should be noted that, starting in 2023, the methodology for calculating power generation volumes in statistical reports has changed. Specifically, the volume of electricity generated by autonomous generators has now been included. For the agricultural sector, data is published only in quarterly and annual statistical reports. (The average dram exchange rate in January-August 2025 was AMD 389.39 /1$)
