Other regional difficulties, such as upheavals in neighbouring Georgia, are also having a detrimental effect on the country's economy and Armenian foreign trade is suffering badly as a result of all this.
Many people rely on subsistence agriculture.
Mineral deposits including copper, zinc, gold, marble, bauxite and molybdenum have brought some foreign revenue and investment but this sector is relatively undeveloped. The industrial sector comprises textile and chemical industries, aluminium production and some mechanical engineering. The Government introduced a series of major reforms in the mid-1990s including privatisation, a new fiscal structure and the introduction a new currency, the Dram , to replace the Russian Rouble. Terms and Conditions apply.