ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity growth accelerated to 7.1% annually in January-March 2026 (up from 4.1% in the same period of 2025), driven by the construction and industrial sectors. According to preliminary data from the RA Statistics Committee, there was also an improvement in foreign trade dynamics, with a significant recession giving way to moderate growth.
According to statistics, the acceleration of economic activity in January-March 2026 was mainly attributed to the annual dynamics of the industrial sector, which shifted from an 18.5% decline to 13.4% growth, and an even faster acceleration in the construction sector, from 13.6% to 22%. Additionally, annual growth in the energy sector also accelerated, from 3.8% to 7.7%. On the other hand, annual growth in trade continued to slow, from 6% to 2.1%, as did the services sector, from 11.5% to 7.4%. In the agricultural sector, there was a worsening in annual dynamics, transitioning from 10.5% growth to a 5.2% decline.
According to statistics for January-March 2026, the trade sector retained the lead in absolute terms, with a volume of 1.4 trillion drams ($3.8 billion). The services sector ranks second in terms of volume with 981.7 billion drams ($2.6 billion), followed by the industrial sector with 748 billion drams ($1.98 billion), the agricultural sector with 96.4 billion drams ($254.7 million), and the construction sector with 95.6 billion drams ($252.8 million). Power generation in January-March 2026 amounted to 2,664.8 million kWh, with 840.9 million kWh generated in March alone.
At the same time, economic activity also accelerated in March 2026 compared to March 2025, reaching 6.6% (from 3.7% a year earlier). In March alone, growth accelerated from 4.6% to 11.6% (the same as in March a year earlier, from 5.8% to 11.9%). Moreover, in March 2026, the industrial sector's dynamics worsened, reversing from 12.2% growth to a 2% decline, while a year earlier in the same month, the dynamics had recovered from a 0.9% decline to 15.9% growth. Other sectors, however, demonstrated growth in March, with the highest double-digit growth in construction (34.4%, with a slowdown), followed by trade (14.1%, with a slowdown), services (12.6%, with a recovery), and energy (7.1%, with a recovery). On a year-over-year basis (March 2026 to March 2025), all sectors demonstrated an upward trend. The construction sector showed the highest annual growth rate of 24%, followed by the energy sector (9%), services (7.8%), industrial sector (7%), and trade (0.2%). A year earlier, in March 2025 compared to March 2024, almost all sectors, except for the industrial sector (16.9%) and energy complex (2.2%), which experienced decline, showed growth: construction by 15.5%, services by 10.1%, and trade by 3.2%.
Against this backdrop, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-March 2026 amounted to 1.8 trillion drams ($4.7 billion), an increase of 4.6% year-on-year (compared to a 54.2% decline a year ago). This is due to the growth of both export and import dynamics by 4.5% and 4.6% per annum, respectively (from a decline of 61.8% and 47.9% a year ago). As a result, the absolute value of exports amounted to 665.7 billion drams ($1.8 billion), and imports - 1.1 trillion drams ($2.9 billion).
In March 2026, compared to March 2025, foreign trade turnover decreased by 6.8% due to a decline in both exports by 12.6% and imports by 3.2%. This was a more impressive rate observed a year earlier in March 2025 compared to March 2024, when foreign trade turnover fell by 31.8% due to a significant decline in both exports by 65.4% and imports by 51.2%.
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 also been included. For the agricultural sector, data is published only in quarterly and annual statistical reports. (The average dram exchange rate in the first quarter of 2026 was AMD 378.30/$1, compared to AMD 395.42/$1 in Q1 2025.)
