The Armenian economy grew by 5.2 percent last year on the back of major gains in manufacturing, trade and other services, according to official statistics released on Wednesday.
The figure is virtually identical with a growth estimate made by the World Bank last month. The bank also forecast that economic growth in Armenia slow down this year before accelerating in 2020 and 2021.
Armenian growth reached 7.5 percent in 2017. It hit 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018, just before the start of weeks of mass protests that led to the resignation of the country’s longtime leader, Serzh Sarkisian.
The Armenian Statistical Committee recorded a nearly 9 percent rise in the 2018 volume of retail and wholesale trade. It said that financial and other services were up by as much as 19 percent.
The government agency also registered a 4.3 percent increase in industrial output mainly driven by manufacturing sectors. By contrast, the Armenian mining industry, a key export-oriented sector, contracted by 14 percent. This seems to have primarily resulted from the closure in early 2018 of a large copper and molybdenum mine in the northern Lori province.
GDP growth was also dragged down by an 8.5 percent fall in agricultural production. Government officials blame it on unfavorable weather conditions.
In its comprehensive policy program approved by the parliament last week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government pledged to ensure that the domestic economy expands by at least 5 percent annually for the next five years. It said rising exports will be the “main engine” of that growth.
The program reaffirms Pashinian’s repeated pledges to carry out an “economic revolution” that will significantly reduce poverty and unemployment in Armenia. It says the government will improve tax administration, ease business regulations, guarantee fair competition, and stimulate exports and innovation.