ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.  China is investing  several billion dollars for the implementation of the Smart City project in Armenia. Sargis Gevorgyan, President of the Armenian  Agency for Reconstruction and Development (ADKARS), announced this at  a press conference on August 6 during the signing of a corresponding  agreement with Chinese partners.

ArmInfo.  The unused funds of  the state budget of Armenia in the first half of the year will be  transferred to the Government's Reserve Fund. The decision was made  at the meeting of the RA Cabinet of Ministers on August 6.

ArmInfo. Ijevan Wine-Brandy  Factory CJSC will invest 201.7 million drams in the expansion of  production. At a meeting on August 6, the Armenian government  satisfied the company's application for exemption from customs  payments for imported equipment and raw materials, and also deferred  VAT payments for a period of three years.

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the share of  non-cash card transactions remained at the level of 30% in the total  volume of plastic transactions by July 1, 2020. But the y-o-y growth  in the volume of non-cash card transactions slowed down from last  year's 48% to the current 38%, amounting by the results of the first  half of this year to 351 billion drams ($ 728 million). The  preservation of the share, despite the slowdown in volumes, is due to  the activity of Internet commerce, the popularization of mobile and  web applications by banks and Armenian Card, and such effective  measures to encourage non-cash transactions as CashBack. According to  the data of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, five years  earlier (H1 of 2015), the share of non-cash transactions in the total  volume of plastic transactions was 12%, and by July 1, 2019 it had  reached 24%.

ArmInfo. The metallurgical industry of Armenia in the H1 of 2020 showed an increase of 19.4% per annum, against a 3.7% decline in the same period of 2019. According to the RA Statistical Committee, in the H1 of the year, the  production of ferromolybdenum in Armenia increased by 11.2% per annum  (against growth by 5.4% a year earlier), amounting to 4,140.5 tons. 

ArmInfo.According to the results of the first half of 2020, the corporate component dominates in the premium portfolios of Armenian insurers - 56.2% (13.7 billion drams), while the retail component accounts for 43.8% (10.6 billion drams), against 55.9% and 44, 1% respectively a year earlier.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.  In Armenia the volume  of industrial production in the H1 of 2020 increased by 1.5% against  the same period of 2019 (against 6.9% growth a year earlier),  amounting to 896 billion drams ($ 1.8 billion). According to the  Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the slowdown in the  growth of the industrial sector is due to the change in the trend of  the manufacturing industry from an upward to a downward one, while  the growth of the mining sector continued. Moreover, in June of this  year, industrial volumes increased by 6.3% (against a 2.4% decline in  June 2019), amounting to 160.3 billion drams ($ 333.2 million).

ArmInfo.  In the H1 of 2020, 15 893 children were born in Armenia, which is 0.8% less than a year ago, and 2.3% compared to the same period of 2018. According to the  Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the birth rate per  1000 population decreased on an y- o-y basis from 10.9 to 10.8 ppm,  against 11 ppm two years earlier.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo.  On August 5, Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received representatives of companies  working in the textile sector.

ArmInfo. Negative migration  balance in Armenia at the end of the H1 of 2020 amounted to 1444  people, which is less than a year ago by 46.6%, and in the two-year  context, a decrease of 44.7% was recorded. This is evidenced by the  data of the RA Statistical Committee. 

ArmInfo.The pandemic has become a reason of rearrangement of work, responsibilities and resources in different organizations. Sona Manucharyan, the head of HR department of IDBank speaks about arrangement of work in the new reality.

ArmInfo. The population of Armenia as of July 1, 2020 amounted to 2.963 million people, having slightly increased on an annualized basis by 0.05% or 1.4 thousand  people.  This is evidenced by the data of the RA Statistical Committee.

ArmInfo.Deflation of 1.1% was recorded in the consumer market of Armenia in January-July 2020, against 1.8% deflation in the same period of 2019. According to the RA Statistical Committee, this was provoked by a decrease in prices  for food products (including alcohol and cigarettes) by 2.7% and  non-food products by 1.2%, while tariffs for services increased by  0.9%.

ArmInfo. In the first half of 2020 "Armenal" plant provided the highest indicator for the entire period of foil-rolling production in Armenia. Thus, according to the  Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, during the  reporting period, the production of aluminum foil increased by 13.7%  in y-o-y terms (against 5.8% decline in the previous year), amounting  to 17 443 tons.

ArmInfo.It is very important for the Armenian economy to develop the adaptive capacities of the business sector in the new situation. Arsen Melkonyan, Deputy CEO at ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank for Business Operations, expressed this  opinion.