Beginning in 2020, COVID-19 reached Armenia and on March 15 the government declared a state of emergency to prevent the further spread of the virus. Many economic restrictions were enforced. Schools, universities and almost all public institutions and many businesses launched a distance working mode. The government enacted financial support programs to ease the negative consequences of restrictions. After lifting the state of emergency in September, the government declared a state of quarantine. However, the restrictions were largely eased and most economic activities were allowed to enter a “normal” mode. In spite of the restrictions and safety rules, the virus spread rapidly as the public did not follow the rules strictly and the government was falling short to effectively impose them. Examining the structure of economic activities we see that Agriculture and Trade & Services sectors are the ones that declined due to pandemic. Trade and Services is the hardest-hit sector, which in value terms declined by about 700 million USD (the value of the output), when compared with 2019. Read the full article on Hetq.
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