YEREVAN, November 12. /ARKA/. Armenia’s economic growth will continue to slow down, but will remain at a rather high level of 5.9% at the end of the year, according to the latest macroeconomic review, prepared by the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).
The bank recalls that in September Armenia’s economic activity dropped by 0.1% y / y (in January-September, the increase was 6.6% y / y).
“Until the end of 2018, GDP growth rate in Armenia is likely to remain lower than in the first half of the year. Nevertheless, we predict a 5.9% growth from the previous year,” according to the review.
The EDB reiterates that the main reason for the GDP growth slowdown was a decline in agricultural production caused by unfavorable weather conditions.
The growth of the economy was also constrained by a decrease in ore mining against the background of increasing requirement for compliance with environmental standards. The drop in agricultural output and lower ore output were to some extent offset by accelerated growth in trade and, to a lesser extent, investment growth.
Industrial output continues to contribute to GDP growth. Strong results are still demonstrated by food production (an increase of 14%y/y in September after a 18.1% y / y growth in August).
Over the first 9 months of 2018, industrial output saw 4% rise to about 1.244.7 trillion drams, the domestic trade surged by 9.6% to 2.039.5 trillion drams, services went up by 19.1% to 1.260.2 trillion drams, construction grew by 7.6% to 245.9 billion drams, while the gross agricultural output decreased by 4.8% to 595 billion drams. In September 2018, the 12-month inflation was 3.5%.
Also the country’s foreign trade in the first 9 months amounted to about $5.355.7 billion, an increase 22.4% from the year ago. The government’s projection of economic growth for this year is 4.5%. -0-
