ArmInfo. In Armenia, economic activity growth accelerated to 8% annually in January-May 2026 (from 5.7% in the same period of 2025). Moreover, the industrial sector, having managed to reach double-digit growth from the recession, has recovered as one of the drivers of economic growth. According to preliminary data from the RA Statistics Committee, foreign trade is still in decline, although the decline is now insignificant, in contrast to the significant decline seen a year ago.
According to statistics, the acceleration of economic activity in January-May 2026 was driven by improved annual growth in the industrial sector, which rose from a 14.1% decline to 12.2%, and accelerated growth in the construction sector, from 17.1% to 24.1%.
Growth in the energy sector accelerated significantly, from 0.6% to 7.7%. Meanwhile, the leading trade sector by volume continued to decline, from 4.2% to 1.2%. The services sector, second in volume, also began to slow, but less noticeably, from 10.1% to 9.1%.
According to statistics for January-May 2026, the trade sector retained its leadership in absolute terms, with a volume of 2.6 trillion drams ($6.8 billion). The services sector ranks second in terms of volume with 1.7 trillion drams ($4.6 billion), followed by the industrial sector with 1.3 trillion drams ($3.4 billion), and the construction sector, with 207.3 billion drams ($552.1 million), due to the lack of data on the agricultural sector in this statistical report. Electricity generation in January-May 2026 amounted to 3,994 million kWh, of which 656.9 million kWh occurred in May alone.
An acceleration in economic activity growth was also observed in May 2026 compared to May 2025, from 10.4% to 11.7%, with growth in May alone advancing from 6% to 9.9% (compared to a less noticeable acceleration in May 2025 from 4.3% to 5.4%). Moreover, in May 2026, the industrial sector's dynamics reversed from a 0.2% decline to 1.2% growth, a trend that was recorded a year earlier in the same month, when the dynamics reversed from a 3.9% decline to 2.9% growth. At the same time, growth in the construction sector accelerated in May of this year - from 18.6% to 27.2%, in the services sector - from 3.4% to 6.9%. At the same time, in the trade sector, the dynamics in May of this year worsened from 1.9% growth to a 1.6% decline, and the energy complex lingered in decline, but with a noticeable slowdown in rates from 20.1% to 2.3%.
In annual terms (May 2026 to May 2025), all sectors demonstrated an upward trend. In particular, the construction sector demonstrated the highest annual growth rate of 27.1%, followed by double-digit growth in the services sector (14.7%) and the energy sector (13.3%). Meanwhile, the industrial sector managed to recover from the recession with 9.5% growth. Meanwhile, the trade sector stagnated. A year earlier, in May 2025 to May 2024, with the exception of the industrial sector (5.9%) and the energy sector (8.6%), which declined, other sectors maintained growth: construction (22.2%), services (10.8%), and trade (0.9%).
Against this backdrop, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-May 2026 amounted to 2.95 trillion. AMD ($7.9 billion), a decline of only 0.1% year-on-year (compared to a 49% decline a year ago). This significant slowdown in the decline was due to an improvement in import dynamics, from a 42% decline to 2.2% growth, and a noticeable slowdown in the decline in exports, from 57.4% to 3.7%. As a result, the absolute value of exports for January-May 2026 amounted to AMD 1.1 trillion ($2.9 billion), while imports amounted to AMD 1.9 trillion ($4.99 billion).
In May 2026, compared to May 2025, foreign trade turnover also remained in decline, but also with a slowdown in growth, from 28.8% to 5.3%. Specifically, the decline in exports slowed from 39.3% to 11.5%, while imports fell from 20.4% to 1.6%. In May alone, foreign trade turnover fell by 5.6%, with exports falling by 4.7% and imports by 6.1%. This was also observed in the same month a year earlier, but at that time, the decline rates were double-digit - 14.8%, 19%, and 12%, respectively.
It should be noted that, starting in 2023, the methodology for calculating electricity generation volumes in statistical reports has changed; in particular, the volume of electricity generated by independent producers has now been included. For the agricultural sector, data is published only in quarterly and annual statistical reports. (The average dram exchange rate in January-May 2026 was 375.53 drams per US dollar, compared to 392.72 drams per US dollar a year ago.)
