ArmInfo. In January-May 2021, Armenia's public debt increased by $ 848 million - up to $ 8,816 billion. To note, as of April 2018, that is, before the "Velvet  Revolution", the national debt was at $ 6,867 billion.

ArmInfo.Armenia's gross international reserves increased in January- May 2021 by 15% or by $ 393 million, amounting to $ 3.009 billion, as evidenced by the data  of the Central Bank of Armenia. Of these, the lion's share - $ 2.973  billion - falls on foreign assets in hard currency, and the SDR share  in the IMF amounted to $ 35.7 million. According to the regulator's  report, in January-May of this year foreign assets in hard currency  increased by 14.1%, and the share of SDR in the IMF grew 4-fold.

ArmInfo. The increase in the public debt is the price that not only Armenia, but the whole world paid, in order to mitigate the negative impact of the crisis in 2020 in some  way. This was announced on June 9 by  RA acting Minister of Finance  Atom Janjughazyan at the sitting of the Standing Committee of the  National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on Budgetary and  Financial- Credit Issues.

ArmInfo.Armenia's foreign trade turnover amounted to $ 2.2 billion in January-April 2021, with an improvement in y-o-y dynamics to 7.2% growth (from a 10.4% decline a  year earlier).

ArmInfo.Armenia's public debt accelerated growth in January-April 2021 to 10.4% (from 1.4% growth a year earlier), reaching $ 8.8 billion. According to preliminary data  of the RA Ministry of Finance, published by the RA Statistical  Committee, Armenia's external debt increased by 9.8%, exceeding $ 6.7  billion, and domestic debt - by 6.8%, exceeding $ 2 billion, while a  year earlier the decline in external debt by 1.7% was accompanied by  an increase in domestic debt by 13.3%.

ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity in January-April 2021 increased by 2.6% per annum (against a 1.7% decline a year earlier), against the backdrop of an increase in   exports and imports by 16.7% and 2.2%, respectively. According to the  preliminary data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of   Armenia, in the sectoral breakdown, growth was demonstrated by all   sectors, except for the service sector, and data on the agricultural   sector are published in the statistical report only on a quarterly   basis.

ArmInfo. The new forecast report of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia for 2021 is supplemented with an apocalyptic scenario, but the recorded development indicates  that the economy has begun to breathe.

ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia attaches importance to pursuing a countercyclical (stabilization) policy in the current economic situation to mitigate  negative consequences and maintain macroeconomic balance. On June 1,  Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia Martin  Galstyan stated this in the parliament during the preliminary  discussions of the annual report on the implementation of the 2020  state budget.

ArmInfo. Armenia's gross international reserves increased in January- April 2021 by 14.3% or by $ 375.1 million, amounting to $ 2.991 billion, as evidenced by the  data of the Central Bank of Armenia.

ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity in January-April 2021 increased by 2.6% per annum (against a 1.7% decline a year earlier), against the backdrop of an increase in  exports and imports by 16.7% and 2.2%, respectively. According to the  preliminary data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of  Armenia, in the sectoral breakdown, growth was demonstrated by all  sectors, except for the service sector, and data on the agricultural  sector are published in the statistical report only on a quarterly  basis.

ArmInfo.In the banking system of Armenia, the accelerated growth of non-performing loans (NPL) in 2020 continued in Q1 2021. In such a situation, the "indulgences"  undertaken by the regulator to shift part of the burden of bad loans  from 2020 to 2021 are likely to weigh down the already toxic loan  portfolio, as a result of which profits will linger in the downturn.

ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia intends to revise the forecast of the country's economic growth for 2021 towards improvement. 

ArmInfo. The decline in the Armenian economy in 2020 was about 7.5%, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Karabakh war. According to the forecasts of the IMF  and the Central Bank of Armenia for 2021, growth will be about  1-1.4%.

ArmInfo.Armenia's foreign trade turnover in the first quarter of 2021 amounted to $ 1.5 billion, accelerating the decline to 4.4% (from 4% a year earlier). According  to the final data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of  Armenia, this was provoked by the acceleration of the decline in  imports from 6.2% to 8.7%, while the export growth accelerated from  0.2% to 3.4%, the volumes of which amounted to $ 936.4 million and $  572.9 million, respectively.

ArmInfo. Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan again promised to reach a double-digit indicator of economic growth by the end of the year. He stated this  on May 5 from the rostrum of the RA National Assembly, answering the  questions of parliamentarians.

ArmInfo. In the consumer market of Armenia in January-April 2021, inflation was recorded at 5.1%, against 2.6% inflation in the same period in 2020. According to the RA Statistical Committee, this was provoked by an increase in the  prices of food products (including alcohol and cigarettes) by 8.6%  (versus 5.7% a year earlier), non-food products - by 5%  (versus 0.1% a year earlier) and tariffs for services - by 1.1%  (against 0.3% a year earlier).

ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity in the 1st quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020 decreased by 2% (against 4% growth in the 1st quarter of 2020).   According to the final data of the Statistical Committee of the  Republic of Armenia, only the construction sector and the energy  complex were in growth, while the industrial sector, agricultural  sector, trade, and the service sector are still overdrawn.

ArmInfo. Taking into account the current macroeconomic situation and the inflationary impact expected from the external and internal economies, the Council of the Central  Bank of Armenia considers it necessary to gradually neutralize the  stimulating effect of monetary conditions.

ArmInfo. Armenia's gross external debt, which already in 2020 exceeded GDP to 103.5%, will continue to prevail over GDP both in 2021 (107%) and in 2021 (105.1%).  Thus, the gross debt of the Armenian government will reach 69.9% of GDP in 2021  (from 62.8% of GDP in 2020), and then in 2022 it will modestly  decrease to 68.8% of GDP. This is stated in the new IMF report  "Regional Economic Outlook Update: Middle East and Central Asia",  which presents a detailed forecast of key indicators of Armenia.

ArmInfo. Armenia's gross international reserves increased in the first quarter of 2021 by  15.1% or by $ 393.7 million, amounting to $ 3.009 billion, as  evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia. Of these, the  lion's share - $ 3.003 billion - falls on foreign assets in hard  currency, and the SDR share in the IMF amounted to $ 2.9 million.  According to the regulator's report, for the first quarter of this  year foreign assets in hard currency increased by 15.2%, while the  share of SDR in the IMF decreased by 67.3%.