Goods exports surged by 29.5% y/y in Jul-24
In Jul-24, goods exports surged by 29.5% y/y to a new record high monthly level of US$ 682.3mn, following a 5.8% y/y growth in previous month. Imports also increased by 7.2% y/y to US$ 1.4bn, recovering from a 5.7% y/y decline in previous month. Consequently, the trade deficit decreased by 7.5% y/y to US$ 737.8mn in Jul-24. Overall, in 7M24, trade deficit increased by 5.8% y/y to US$ 5.5bn, as exports declined by 1.4% y/y to US$ 3.5bn, while imports rose by 2.9% y/y to US$ 9.0bn.
Money transfers stood at US$ 298.1mn in Jul-24
Money transfers declined slightly by 1.8% y/y to US$ 298.1mn in Jul-24, after falling by 20.9% y/y in previous month. On a monthly basis, the transfers were up by 6.1% in July. Among the top countries, money transfers increased from the EU (+9.5% y/y, 44.9% of total), the USA (+24.5% y/y, 16.9% of total) and Israel (+22.2% y/y, 7.3% of total). In contrast, reduction in transfers continued from Russia (-38.6% y/y, 15.3% of total) and Kazakhstan (-35.9% y/y, 3.5% of total) in July. Overall, in 7M24 money transfers decreased by 27.0% y/y to US$ 2.0bn.
FDI in Georgia amounted to US$ 1.9bn in 2023
Geostat revised 2023 FDI statistics upwards to US$ 1.9bn (-15.6% y/y, 6.2% of GDP), from the preliminary estimate of US$ 1.6bn. The main reasons for this revision were adjustments to reinvestments and debt volume by several enterprises.
The financial sector was the largest FDI recipient at US$ 583.6mn (up 8.5% y/y, 30.7% of total), followed by trade at US$ 314.3mn (up 62.5% y/y, 16.5% of total), manufacturing at US$ 301.5mn (up 128.0% y/y, 15.9% of total), transport and storage at US$ 165.4mn (up 88.8% y/y, 8.7% of total), ICT at US$ 119.6mn (down 15.6% y/y, 6.3% of total) and real estate at US$ 111.2mn (down 70.0% y/y, 5.8% of total).
The Netherlands topped the list of investors with US$ 386.3mn (20.3% of total FDI), followed by UK (US$ 364.3mn, 19.2% of total), and USA (US$ 182.2mn, 9.6% of total).
