International visitors at 2.4mn in 3Q24
In 3Q24, international visitors to Georgia increased by 2.5% y/y to 2.4mn persons. This growth was mainly driven by a 8.3% y/y increase in tourist arrivals, which accounted for 79.3% of total arrivals. Meanwhile, same-day arrivals fell by 15.2% y/y in the same period. Accordingly, we estimate tourism revenues at US$ 1.7bn (+18.9% y/y) in 3Q24. Russia was the top source country by international arrivals (24.8% of total) in 3Q24, followed by Türkiye (18.5% of total) and Armenia (14.6% of total). Notably, most visitors traveled to Georgia via land (63.1% of total), followed by air (36.0% of total).
Overall, 5.0mn international visitors traveled to Georgia in 9M24, with 4.0mn of them being tourist arrivals, slightly surpassing the 9M19 level. Same-day arrivals totaled 1.1mn, recovering to 52.8% of the 9M19 figure. Based on our estimate, tourism revenues reached US$ 3.6bn (+11.3% y/y) in 9M24. We forecast tourism revenues at US$ 4.4bn for the full year 2024.
Median wages increased by 19.0% y/y in 2023
Median monthly nominal wages were up 19.0% y/y (+16.1% y/y in real terms) to GEL 1,238 in 2023. This figure is 29.9% below the average monthly wage of GEL 1,767, which grew by 14.5% y/y in 2023, according to Geostat.
By economic activity, the highest monthly median wages were observed in the following sectors: information and communication (GEL 1,960, +19.7% y/y), public administration (GEL 1,878, +21.4% y/y), construction (GEL 1,810, +20.7% y/y), mining (GEL 1,705, +0.1% y/y) and financial and insurance (GEL 1,696, +20.0% y/y). The lowest monthly median wages were in education (GEL 835, +11.8% y/y) and water supply (GEL 855, +11.0% y/y) in 2023.
International reserves at US$ 4.7bn in Sep-24
Gross international reserves decreased by 10.6% y/y to US$ 4.7bn in Sep-24, according to NBG. On a monthly basis, the reserves were down by 2.6% (-US$ 126.1mn). The changes in reserves were attributed to the government and/or banking sector FX operations, likely including NBG’s FX trading via BMatch platform (information will be available on 25 October). Notably, monetary gold accounts for 12.8% of total international reserves as of Sep-24.
NBG sold US$ 48.5mn
On October 8, 2024, the NBG intervened in the FX market, selling USD 48.5mn out of the USD 60mn offered to ease pressure on the lari caused by large one-off transactions, as the regulator commented.
