YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Economic growth in Armenia accelerated to 7.6 percent last year, according to government data released on February 20.
Official figures publicized by the Statistical Committee show that trade and other services were the main drivers of this growth which increased the country’s Gross Domestic Product to 6.55 trillion drams ($13.6 billion).
A 9-percent rise in industrial output reported by the government agency also contributed to it. By contrast, the Armenian agricultural sector contracted by more than 4 percent in 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan touted the GDP growth rate during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
“It means that we have registered the fastest economic growth since 2008 and I want to congratulate all of us in connection with that,” he told ministers. “I am confident that as a result of our joint efforts we will register an even higher figure in 2020.”
After years of sluggish growth that followed the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the Armenian economy expanded by 7.5 percent in real terms in 2017. Its growth slowed to 5.2 percent in 2018, which saw a dramatic regime change in the country, but gained renewed momentum in 2019, leading the International Monetary Fund to revise upwards its growth forecast for Armenia.
