The 2001 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
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Armenia Economy
Economy - overview: Under the old Soviet central planning system, Armenia had developed a modern industrial sector, supplying machine tools, textiles, and other manufactured goods to sister republics in exchange for raw materials and energy. Since the implosion of the USSR in December 1991, Armenia has switched to small-scale agriculture away from the large agroindustrial complexes of the Soviet era. The agricultural sector has long-term needs for more investment and updated technology. The privatization of industry has been at a slower pace, but has been given renewed emphasis by the current administration. Armenia is a food importer, and its mineral deposits (gold, bauxite) are small. The ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan over the ethnic Armenian-dominated region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the breakup of the centrally directed economic system of the former Soviet Union contributed to a severe economic decline in the early 1990s. By 1994, however, the Armenian Government had launched an ambitious IMF-sponsored economic program that has resulted in positive growth rates in 1995–2000. Armenia also managed to slash inflation and to privatize most small- and medium-sized enterprises. The chronic energy shortages Armenia suffered in recent years have been largely offset by the energy supplied by one of its nuclear power plants at Metsamor. Armenia's severe trade imbalance, importing three times its exports, has been offset somewhat by international aid, domestic restructuring of the economy, and foreign direct investment.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $10 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 5% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,000 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 40%
industry: 25%
services: 35% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line: 45% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (1999 est.)
Labor force: 1.5 million (1999)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 55%, services 25%, industry 20% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 20% (1998 est.)
note: official rate is 9.3% for 1998
Budget: revenues: $360 million
expenditures: $566 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)
Industries: metal-cutting machine tools, forging-pressing machines, electric motors, tires, knitted wear, hosiery, shoes, silk fabric, chemicals, trucks, instruments, microelectronics, gem cutting, jewelry manufacturing, software development, brandy
Industrial production growth rate: 5% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 6.668 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 45.56%
hydro: 23.25%
nuclear: 31.19%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 6.201 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: fruit (especially grapes), vegetables; livestock
Exports: $284 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities: diamonds, scrap metal, machinery and equipment, brandy, copper ore
Exports - partners: Belgium 36%, Iran 15%, Russia 14%, US 7%,
Turkmenistan, Georgia (1999)
Imports: $913 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: natural gas, petroleum, tobacco products, foodstuffs, diamonds
Imports - partners: Russia 17%, US 11%, Belgium 11%, Iran 10%, UK,
Turkey (1999)
Debt - external: $836 million (January 2001)
Economic aid - recipient: $245.5 million (1995)
Currency: dram (AMD)
Currency code: AMD
Exchange rates: drams per US dollar - 554.29 (1 February 2001), 539.53 (2000), 535.06 (1999), 504.92 (1998), 490.85 (1997), 414.04 (1996)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Armenia Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: 568,000 (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 6,220 (1997)
Telephone system: general assessment: system inadequate; now 90% privately owned and undergoing modernization and expansion
domestic: the majority of subscribers and the most modern equipment are in Yerevan (this includes paging and mobile cellular service)
international: Yerevan is connected to the Trans-Asia-Europe fiber-optic cable through Iran; additional international service is available by microwave radio relay and landline connections to the other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and through the Moscow international switch and by satellite to the rest of the world; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat
Radio broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 6, shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios: 850,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 4 (1998)
Televisions: 825,000 (1997)
Internet country code: .am
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (1999)
Internet users: 30,000 (2000)
Armenia Transportation
Railways: total: 852 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
broad gauge: 852 km 1.520-m gauge (779 km electrified) (2001)
Highways: total: 8,431 km ()
paved: NA
unpaved: NA (1997)
Waterways: NA km
Pipelines: natural gas 900 km (1991)
Ports and harbors: none
Airports: 7 (2000 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 7
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.)
Armenia Military
Military branches: Army, Air Force and Air Defense Aviation, Air
Defense Force, Security Forces (internal and border troops)
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15–49: 905,154 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15–49: 715,734 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 34,998 (2001 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $75 million (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 4% (FY99)
Armenia Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: Armenia supports ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in the longstanding, separatist conflict against the Azerbaijani Government; traditional demands regarding former Armenian lands in Turkey have subsided
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