Gross National Product (GNP): Estimated at US$2.7 billion in 1992, or US$780 per capita. Growth rate in 1992 was - 46 percent. Economic growth crippled after 1989 by Azerbaijani blockade of fuel and other materials and by demands of NagornoKarabakh conflict.
Industry and Mining: Dominant light manufacturing products include footwear, woven clothing, and carpets. Nonferrous metallurgy, machine building, electronics, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and building materials most important heavy industries. Mining resource base broad, including copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, and iron ore, but little developed.
Agriculture: After privatization in 1990, assumed larger share of economy; most land privately owned by 1993. Farms small but relatively productive. Main crops grains, potatoes, vegetables, grapes, berries, cotton, sugar beets, tobacco, figs, and olives.
Energy: Nearly all energy supplied from abroad, causing severe shortage under blockade of early 1990s. Natural gas, delivered from Turkmenistan via Georgia pipeline, frequently blocked. Hydroelectric plants main domestic source; natural gas supply from Russia intermittent because of pipeline damage.
Exports: In 1990 worth US$2.1 billion. Principal items textiles, shoes, carpets, machines, chemical products, processed foods, and metal products. Postcommunist export markets shifted toward Turkey and Iran, but traditional ties with Russia and Eastern Europe remained. License controls eased in 1992. Total export trade, severely constricted by blockade, about US$135.6 million in 1993.
Imports: In 1990 worth US$2.8 billion. Principal items light industrial products, industrial raw materials, fuels, and energy. Principal import suppliers Russia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Nearly all energy and much food must be imported.
Balance of Payments: Estimated in 1992 as US$137 million deficit.
Exchange Rate: Dram introduced November 1993, to become exclusive national currency early 1994. May 1994 rate about 390 drams per US$1. Second national unit, luma (100 to the dram), introduced February 1994.
Inflation: Dram devalued as Russian ruble devalued, early 1994, against United States dollar. Prices raised in steep periodic increments, including 30 percent rise March 1994. Prices in 1993 rose 130 percent as fast as wages.
Fiscal Year: Calendar year.
Fiscal Policy: Highly centralized government system, with no regional authority. Indexation of salaries and prices and currency devaluation used to balance supply and demand. Taxes added and changed 1992-93 to improve national income.
Data as of March 1994