PRODUCTION VOLUMES OF ARMENIAN INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES DECLINE DUE TO GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
Noyan Tapan
Nov 26, 2008
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. By the results of the monitoring
by the RA Ministry of Economy, the production volumes of Armenian
industrial enterprises declined in January-October 2008 on the same
period of 2007. The head of the ministry’s sectoral and territorial
economic development department Hayk Mirzoyan said at the November
26 press conference that the production volumes declined by 0.9% to
244 billion drams (about 800 million USD), sales by 3.5% and exports
by 6.5%.
According to H. Mirzoyan, for the time being it is impossible to assess
the negative impact of the global financial crisis on Armenian economy.
Nevertheless, the crisis has considerably affected the mining
industry, which is mainly conditioned by the fall in international
prices of non-ferrous metals. The same situation is in the chemical
industry. The main reason for the decline is the fall in demand for
production of Nairit Plant, in particular, in the demand of foreign
partners. It was mentioned that unlike Nairit, the production of the
Vanadzor chemical enterprise grew in recent months.
H. Mirzoyan announced that the production volumes of the gem and
jewelry sector also grew in the past two months: the growth rates
made 112.2% in January-October and 158% in September-October. In the
past 10 months a growth was also recorded in mechanical engineering
(112.9%) and electrotechical sectors (101.8%).
H. Mirzoyan said that the decline in production volumes at the
enterprises of the light industry subjected to monitoring was not
conditioned by the global financial crisis. This sector mainly
operates by the "temporary import for processing" customs regime so
the production volume depends on the availability of external orders
which is dictated by the demand of the foreign market.