 armenian gdp exports continue rapid contraction during october according to the latest national accounts figures from the armenian national statistical service the country s economy collapsed by 175 yearonyear y y in januaryoctober arka news reports in october alone gdp contracted by 51 from september coming after the januaryseptember contraction of 183 y y these most recent figures suggest some moderation in the rate of annual output decrease in october however this does not provide much reason for cheer especially compared with the very respectable economic growth rate of 92 y y seen in the first 10 months of last year industrial output in januaryoctober fell by 114 y y whereas activity in the construction sector plummeted by 416 y y meanwhile agricultural production fell by 8 y y further it was reported that exports from armenia in the first 10 moths of the year suffered a fall of 407 y y amounting to us 5516 million while imports at the same time contracted by 285 y y totalling us 257 billion thus the trade deficit for the januaryoctober period came in at us 2018 billion the figures suggest some deceleration in the annual exports contraction in october whereas the fall in imports slightly accelerated in october alone exports decreased by 14 from september while imports increased by 61 from the previous month significance whereas the severe collapse of the armenian economy now should start to ease as cautiously suggested by the latest data the still worsethanexpected performance in the third quarter justified yet another downward revision in ihs global insight s armenian gdp forecast in the november round we expect 2009 annual contraction to somewhat exceed the lower end of the government s forecast of a 1015 fall the extreme severity of the current armenian economic conditions including its major liquidity pressures has been underlined by the fact that it has had to seek revisions to its standby arrangement with the international monetary fund imf which has approved changes to programme terms and payment schedules see armenia 3 november 2009  