Armenia’s economic activity rose by 7.3% year-on-year in January-August 2026, up from 7.1% in the same period a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Statistical Committee of Armenia.
The faster growth was largely supported by a rebound in industry. After a 7.8% decline in January-August 2025, the sector posted 7.4% growth in the same period of this year. Construction also added momentum, with growth accelerating from 20.4% to 24.7%.
The energy sector remained in positive territory, although its growth rate slowed from 7.1% to 5.3%. Services, the second-largest sector by volume, expanded at a faster 12.8%, compared with 10.2% a year earlier. Trade, still the largest sector by volume, continued to lose steam, with growth easing from 3.9% to a near-stagnant 0.7%.
By absolute size, trade remained the largest sector at 4.4 trillion drams ($11.8 billion). Services ranked second with 3.03 trillion drams ($8.1 billion), followed by industry at 2.1 trillion drams ($5.6 billion). With no agriculture data included in this reporting period, construction ranked fourth at 471.6 billion drams ($1.3 billion).
Electricity generation totaled 6,268.4 million kWh in January-August, including 819.7 million kWh in August alone. The statistical agency noted that since 2023 the methodology has been revised to also include electricity produced by autonomous producers.
In August 2026, compared with August 2025, economic activity growth slowed from 7.5% to 5.2%. On a monthly basis for August alone, growth edged down from 4.6% to 4.5%.
Industrial growth in August weakened sharply from 5.5% to 1.9%. Construction, by contrast, saw a slight acceleration from 16.1% to 16.9%. In services, momentum reversed from 2.8% growth to a 1.3% decline. Trade remained in growth territory, but slowed markedly from 7% to 1.3%, while the energy sector decelerated from 16.8% to 3.6%.
On an annual basis, meaning August 2026 versus August 2025, all major sectors except industry and energy remained on an upward track. Industry fell 4.3% and the energy sector declined 4%. Construction posted the strongest annual increase at 23.8%, followed by services at 11.4%, while trade rose just 0.1%.
Armenia’s foreign trade turnover reached 4.9 trillion drams ($13.3 billion) in January-August, increasing 3.2% year-on-year. A year earlier, the same indicator had shown a 41.1% decline. The improvement reflected a turnaround in imports, from a 34.9% drop to 9.3% growth, and a sharp slowdown in the fall of exports, from 48.8% to 6.5%.
As a result, exports totaled 1.7 trillion drams ($4.6 billion), while imports stood at 3.2 trillion drams ($8.7 billion). In August 2026 versus August 2025, foreign trade also returned to growth, shifting from a 33.7% decline to a 9.8% increase. Imports improved from a 28.3% fall to 14.9% growth, while exports moved from a 40.8% decline to a 1.3% increase.
However, in August alone, the trade trend worsened, with turnover shifting from 9.2% growth to a 13.3% decline. That reflected a reversal in imports from 11.1% growth to a 17.5% drop, and in exports from 5.3% growth to a 4% decline.
The average calculated exchange rate of the dram in January-August 2026 stood at 372.29 drams per $1. As before, agriculture data are published only in quarterly and annual statistical reports.
