Armenian economy sanks deep in recession

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

As in July, a number of economic indicators of August in Armenia have decreased again.

The negative trend in domestic trade, which began in last year, keeps continuing. So, the trade turnover has declined by 0.1 percent compared with July indicators, and by a total of 9 percent as compared to August of last year.

Construction output in this month also decreased by 7.2 percent. After reaching its peak in 2008, construction volumes in Armenia keep annually decreasing.

The effective demand for housing clearly diminished in Armenia, which is explained with risky and floating status of Armenian dram in relation to USD. This fact surely scares foreign and local investors from entering the Armenian business market.

Another decline comes from the index of economic activity in Armenia. Starting from July, it for the first time during the year moved to a negative value. So, in July it fell to 95.7 percent, and to 99.5 percent in August of this year.

The unemployment rate in Armenia is still the highest among the CIS countries, making up 19.3 percent, and due to the wrong structure of national economy, new vacancies do not seem to come up in near future.

Moreover, the state debt of Armenia also rises. According to official Armenian statistics, the state debt of Armenia in the first half of 2016 made up $5.345 billion, thus increasing by 5.3 percent from the beginning of the year.

Triggered by this, the wages in the country still keep falling down. Decline in public sector made up 3.5 percent as compared to the data of last year. In general, significant decrease in salaries has been observed throughout Armenia since April 2015. Salaries are declining in both public and private sectors.