Nominal wages up 8.5% y/y in 4Q24
In 4Q24, average monthly nominal wages in Georgia increased by 8.5% y/y (+7.2% in real terms) to GEL 2,218, after growing by 10.9% y/y in 3Q24, according to Geostat.
By economic activity, the highest monthly average wages were recorded in the following sectors: ICT (GEL 4,008, -7.0% y/y), financial and insurance (GEL 3,373, +8.5% y/y), construction (GEL 3,362, +9.8% y/y) and professional and scientific activities (GEL 3,259, +11.6% y/y). The lowest average monthly wages were in education (GEL 1,409, +21.8% y/y), water supply (GEL 1,506, +14.1% y/y) and agriculture (GEL 1,698, +16.1% y/y) in 4Q24.
Overall, nominal monthly wages increased by 16.5% y/y (+15.2% y/y in real terms) to GEL 2,059 in 2024, according to Geostat.
Georgia’s economy grew by 9.4% in 2024
Georgia’s real GDP increased by 8.3% y/y in 4Q24 according to Geostat, revised slightly downwards from the preliminary estimate of 8.4%. Overall, Georgia’s economy grew by 9.4% y/y in 2024. Notably, Nominal GDP increased by 13.6% y/y to GEL 91.9bn (US$ 33.8bn) and GDP per capita reached US$ 9,141 in 2024.
By economic sectors, high contributions to the 2024 growth came from ICT (+24.3% y/y), education (+29.1% y/y), public administration (+17.9% y/y), trade (+6.7% y/y), construction (+14.2% y/y), transportation & storage (+8.3% y/y), financial & insurance (+14.9% y/y) and art & entertainment (+16.4% y/y). Meanwhile, only energy sector (-8.3% y/y) contracted in 2024.
Money transfers reduced by 5.3% y/y to US$ 252.3mn in Feb-25
Money transfers decreased by 5.3% y/y to US$ 252.3mn in Feb-25, after an 8.5% y/y decline in previous month. Among the top countries, money transfers increased from the EU (+4.2% y/y, 45.3% of total), the USA (+13.9% y/y, 18.8% of total), Israel (+6.4% y/y, 8.6% of total), Türkiye (+4.6% y/y, 3.3% of total) and Kyrgyzstan (+92.0% y/y, 2.5% of total) in February. In contrast, transfers reduced from Russia (-44.7% y/y, 12.0% of total) and Kazakhstan (-41.2% y/y, 2.5% of total).
Overall, in 2M25 money transfers declined by 6.9% y/y to US$ 494.7mn.
Goods exports decreased by 7.1% y/y in Feb-25
In Feb-25, goods exports fell by 7.1% y/y to US$ 431.5mn, after a 19.3% y/y growth in previous month. Similarly, goods imports declined by 6.6% y/y to US$ 1.1bn, after a significant increase of 47.8% y/y in previous month. Consequently, the trade deficit decreased by 6.3% y/y to US$ 671.9n in Feb-25.
The top 5 exported commodities were cars (+3.1% y/y), precious metals (+52.7% y/y), wine (-44.6% y/y), spirits (-31.7% y/y) and mineral waters (-4.9% y/y) in Feb-25. A 11.8% of exports were directed to the EU (+25.5% y/y), 67.9% to the CIS (-5.3% y/y) and 20.3% to other countries (-23.6% y/y). The top 5 imports were cars (-21.5% y/y), petroleum (-10.9% y/y), gases (+21.4% y/y), pharmaceuticals (+10.9% y/y) and telephones (-17.8% y/y) in Feb-25.
Overall, in 2M25, the trade deficit rose by 28.1% y/y to US$ 1.9bn, driven by a 4.0% y/y increase in exports, totaling US$ 835.4mn, while imports grew by 19.6% y/y, reaching US$ 2.7bn.
