ArmInfo. Armenia's trade sector generated revenue of 414.7 billion drams ($1.1 billion) in January 2026, decelerating significantly in year-on-year growth from 9.9% to a stagnant 0.7%. This trend was driven by a decline in the dominant wholesale trade sector.
Specifically, wholesale trade reversed its year-on-year growth rate of 12.5% to a 2.8% decline, generating revenue of 263.4 billion drams ($693.1 million) in January of this year.
In January 2026, the annual growth rate of automobile sales slowed from 14.6% to 2.6%, reaching 14.8 billion drams ($38.9 million).
Meanwhile, retail sales not only maintained their growth but also accelerated their annual growth rate from 4.7% to 7.9%, generating revenue of 136.6 billion drams ($359.4 million).
In the retail trade structure, the largest turnover is provided by stores (including supermarkets) - 81.3% or 111.1 billion drams (with an annual growth of 7.4%), other retail outlets - 12.2% or 16.6 billion drams (with an annual growth of 14.6%), followed by consumer goods markets - 4.3% or 5.9 billion (with an annual growth of 8.5%), kiosks - 1.2% or 1.7 billion (with an annual decline of 13.7%), and agricultural markets - 1% or 1.3 billion (with an annual decline of 2.9%).
In the structure of Armenia's total trade turnover, wholesale trade dominates - 63.5%, followed by retail - 32.9%, and the remaining 3.6% is accounted for by the purchase and sale of cars.
The average exchange rate for the dram in January 2026 was 379.98 drams per US dollar.
