ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. The volume of total  foreign investments in the real sector of the economy of Armenia  decreased in the I quarter of 2020 by 38.6% y-o-y, amounting to $ 418  million, while a year earlier an increase of 12.7% was recorded. In  their structure, the volume of FDI demonstrated stagnant growth of  1.4%, amounting to $ 143 million, against a decline of 20.5% a year  earlier. As a result, the share of FDI in total foreign investments  in the first quarter of 2020 increased to 34.2%, exceeding not only  the year-ago period (20.7% in the first quarter of 2019), but also  the two-year one (29.4% in the first quarter) 2018).

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.  In order to promote  sustainable, innovative and market- oriented agribusiness in Armenia,  the EU Green Agriculture Initiative in Armenia (EU-GAIA) has  announced an open call for applications to support green and organic  projects.  According to the EU press service, the EU-GAIA project is  funded by the European Union and co-financed and implemented by the  Austrian Development Agency (ADA) in cooperation with the United  Nations Development Programme in Armenia. The project's Government  counterpart in Armenia is the Ministry of Economy. 

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the  investor will not receive permits for the development of deposits in  the absence of research on the reserves of the mine. The country's  parliament at an extraordinary meeting on July 8 in the first reading  discusses amendments to the law "On bowels "and in a package of  related laws.

ArmInfo. In 2019, the revenue  of the high-tech sector of Armenia showed an increase of 30% per  annum. The Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan  wrote about this on his Facebook page. In particular, he said that  the annual revenue of all companies operating in the high-tech sector  of Armenia amounted to 155.2 billion drams ($ 320 million). The  minister noted that the data are presented without taking into  account the sphere of communications and telecommunications, as well  as trade in electronic devices.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. The turnover of the  Armenian trade sector continues to decline. According to the RA  Statcommittee, in January-May 2020, the trade sector showed a decline  of 10.8% yoy (against growth of 9.4% a year earlier), with a volume  of 1.027 trillion. drams ($ 2.1 billion).  This decline is due to a  noticeable decline in retail sales and slightly smaller car and  wholesale trade.  However, only in May 2020, the trade sector showed  a growth of 33.3% after the April recession of 29.4%, with a volume  of 210.6 billion drams ($ 435 million).

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. In January-May 2020, the production volumes of alcoholic beverages produced in Armenia demonstrate a downward trend. According to the RA Statistical Committee, during the reporting period, the volumes of absolutely all  alcoholic beverages produced in Armenia decreased.

ArmInfo.Under the chairmanship of Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and Global Director of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank Michal Rutkowski , discussions were held on the issues of  digitization and decriminalization of social payments.  Representatives of the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the EU  Delegation also participated in the discussion.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. In the first half of 2020,  inflation in the consumer market of Armenia was recorded at 1%,  against 0.1% inflation in the same period of 2019. This was triggered  by a 2.3% rise in prices for foodstuffs and an increase in tariffs  for services by 0.6%, amid drop in prices of non food products  (including alcohol and cigarettes) by 0.9%. In y-o-y terms (compared  with the first half of 2019), the consumer market recorded inflation  of 0.5% (against inflation of 2% a year ago), which was facilitated  by a rise in price of non-food products by 1% and an increase in  tariffs for services by 1.3%, with no changes in prices of food  prices. According to the data of the Statistical Committee of the  Republic of Armenia, the average monthly growth in consumer prices  amounted to 0.2% in the first half of 2019, against the growth by  0.02% a year earlier.

ArmInfo.   In the context of  COVID-2019, the volume of cargo transportation continues to grow in  Armenia amid the decline in passenger traffic. Thus, according to the  Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, cargo  transportation in Armenia in January-May 2020 versus the same period  last year increased by 5.3% - up to 5 117.1 thousand tons, of which  2973.7 thousand tons (58.3% of the total) accounted for by road  transport, with a y-o-y miserable increase of 0.3%.

ArmInfo. Armenian metallurgical  industry is increasing production volumes. According to the data of  the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, in January-May  2020 the sector ensured growth of volumes by 24.4%, against the 7.4%  decline a year earlier for the same period.  In particular, the  production of copper concentrate increased by 24.1% to 156.8 thousand  tons, against a decline of 9.2% a year earlier. In monthly terms,  copper concentrate production increased by 10.1% to 35.1 thousand  tons.

ArmInfo. The issue of  concentration of LLC and Veon Armenia CJSC was discussed at a  meeting of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic  Competition(SCPEC) of Armenia on July 7.