Nominal wages up 11.1% y/y in 2Q24
In 2Q24, average monthly nominal wages in Georgia increased by 11.1% y/y (+9.0% in real terms) to GEL 2,005, after growing by 13.2% y/y in 1Q24, according to Geostat. By economic activity, the highest monthly average wages were recorded in the following sectors: information and communication (GEL 3,963, +4.3% y/y), financial and insurance (GEL 3,642, +14.5% y/y), construction (GEL 2,946, +13.7% y/y) and professional and scientific activities (GEL 2,873, +13.8% y/y). The lowest average monthly wages were in education (GEL 1,146, +9.2% y/y), water supply (GEL 1,248, +8.5% y/y) and agriculture (GEL 1,449, +13.4% y/y) in 2Q24.
Money transfers stood at US$ 290.6mn in Aug-24
Money transfers increased slightly by 0.3% y/y to US$ 290.6mn in Aug-24, marking the first rise since May-23. Among the top countries, money transfers increased from the EU (+12.7% y/y, 46.5% of total), the USA (+24.9% y/y, 17.5% of total) and Israel (+18.2% y/y, 6.8% of total). In contrast, transfers reduced from Russia (-29.7% y/y, 14.6% of total), Kazakhstan (-52.2% y/y, 3.1% of total) and Türkiye (-5.2% y/y, 3.0% of total) in August. Overall, in 8M24 money transfers decreased by 24.4% y/y to US$ 2.2bn.
Goods exports increased by 30.1% y/y in Aug-24
In Aug-24, goods exports continued to grow robustly, rising by 30.1% y/y to US$ 641.7mn, following a 29.9% y/y growth in previous month. In contrast, imports declined by 4.8% y/y to US$ 1.3bn, after a 11.2% growth y/y in previous month. Consequently, the trade deficit decreased by 23.5% y/y to US$ 702.4mn in Aug-24.
The top 5 exported commodities were cars (+49.7% y/y), precious metals (+494.9% y/y), spirits (+53.3% y/y), wine (+16.6% y/y) and ferro-alloys (+392.7% y/y) in Aug-24. A 7.4% of exports were directed to the EU (-18.4% y/y), 75.3% to the CIS (+37.7% y/y) and 17.4% to other countries (+31.7% y/y).
The top 5 imports were cars (-35.5% y/y), petroleum (+2.4% y/y), pharmaceuticals (-1.7% y/y), phones (-1.3% y/y) and bars & rods of iron (+157.8% y/y) in Aug-24.
Overall, in 8M24, trade deficit increased by 3.8% y/y to US$ 6.4bn, as exports increased by 2.5% y/y to US$ 4.2bn and imports were up by 3.3% y/y to US$ 10.5bn.
Producer price index increased by 8.8% y/y in Aug-24
Annual PPI for industrial goods rose by 8.8% in Aug-24, after increasing by 8.2% y/y in previous month. The annual growth was mainly driven by a rise in prices in the manufacturing sector (+8.1% y/y) and mining (+20.6% y/y) sectors.
