Wednesday, November 5 2025 14:21
Karina Melikyan

Economic growth down in Jan-Sept 2025 

Economic growth down in Jan-Sept 2025 

ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity growth slowed to 7.6% annually in January-September 2025 (from 8.7% in the same period of 2024). Moreover, the industrial sector, which was one of the growth drivers a year earlier, is  weakening the pace of economic growth with the current downturn.  According to the final data of the RA Statistics Committee, this is  accompanied by a deterioration in the foreign trade trend from  significant growth to a significant decline.

According to statistics, the slowdown in economic activity growth in  January-September 2025 was largely due to a deterioration in the  annual dynamics of the industrial sector, from 12.6% growth to 5.7%  decline, and a significant slowdown in trade growth, from 19.5% to  3.5%. Significant growth was observed in the energy sector, rising  from 3% to 8.2%. Meanwhile, the service sector accelerated its annual  growth from 5.9% to 9.9%, with a more pronounced pace in the  construction sector, rising from 15.9% to 20.7%. The statistical  report for this period also includes data on the agricultural sector,  indicating an acceleration in annual growth from 1.8% to 6%.

According to statistical data for January-September 2025, the trade  sector holds the lead in absolute terms, with a volume of 4.7  trillion drams ($12.2 billion). The services sector ranks second,  with 2.9 trillion drams ($7.6 billion), and the industrial sector  ranks third, with 2.1 trillion drams ($1.5 billion). AMD ($5.3  billion), fourth place was the agricultural sector at AMD 686.6  billion ($1.8 billion), and fifth place was the construction sector  at AMD 462.2 billion ($1.2 billion). Electricity generation in  January-September 2025 amounted to 7,355.6 million kWh, of which  847.5 million kWh was generated in September alone.

At the same time, economic activity accelerated from 7% a year  earlier to 10.5% in September 2025, and in September alone, growth  accelerated from 5.4% to 9.8% (compared to a slowdown in September  2024 from 7.2% to 6.6%).

Moreover, in September 2025, industrial sector growth slowed from  10.7% to 5.1%, a more pronounced decline seen a year earlier-from  7.5% to 1.6%.  Simultaneously, growth in the construction sector  slowed in September, from 19.4% to 6.7%. In the services sector,  growth in September worsened, from 3.8% growth to a 2% decline. This  was also observed in the trade sector, from 1.2% growth to a 1.3%  decline. However, the energy sector's growth deteriorated even more  sharply in September, from 10.2% growth to a 10.8% decline.

On an annual basis (September 2025 to September 2024), all sectors  demonstrated an upward trend: the construction sector demonstrated  the highest annual growth rate of 22%, followed by the energy sector  (17.1%), the industrial sector (10.1%), services (7.9%), and trade  (0.9%). A year earlier, in September 2024 to September 2023, all  sectors also showed growth: construction (14.7%), trade (13.4%),  services (11.6%), energy (8.8%), and industrial sector (4.6%).

Against this backdrop, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in  January-September 2025 amounted to 5.7 trillion. AMD ($14.6 billion),  a decline of 39.3% year-on-year (versus 73.5% growth a year ago).  This is due to a significant decline in both exports and imports-by  46.8% and 33.4% year-on-year, respectively, while last year both  indicators demonstrated significant growth-by 2.1 times (exports) and  54.2% (imports). As a result, the absolute value of exports for  January-September 2025 amounted to 2.2 trillion AMD ($5.7 billion),  and imports-3.5 trillion AMD ($8.9 billion).

In September 2025, compared to September 2024, foreign trade turnover  declined by 21.6%, driven by a 24.4% decline in exports and a 19.5%  decline in imports. A year earlier, in September 2024, compared to  September 2023, foreign trade turnover grew by 22.4%, driven by a  38.9% increase in exports and an 11.9% increase in imports.

Starting in 2023, the methodology for calculating electricity  generation volumes in statistical reports has changed. Specifically,  electricity generated by independent generators is now included. For  the agricultural sector, data is published only in quarterly and  annual statistical reports. (The average dram exchange rate in  January-September 2025 was 388.66 drams per US dollar.)