Annual inflation at 5.2% in Oct-25
In October 2025, Georgia’s annual inflation rose to 5.2%, up from 4.8% a month earlier, mainly reflecting higher bread prices. The increase was largely driven by domestic inflation, which stood at 6.2% y/y (Sep: 6.3%), while mixed-goods inflation accelerated to 8.2% y/y (Sep: 7.8%). In contrast, imported goods prices remained unchanged y/y in October (Sep: -1.1%). Meanwhile, core inflation – excluding food, energy, and tobacco – edged up to 2.4% y/y from 2.1% in previous month.
By categories, annual inflation in Oct-25 was largely driven by price increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages (+11.7% y/y, +3.88ppts), healthcare (+8.9% y/y, +0.75ppts), alcoholic beverages & tobacco (+5.6% y/y, +0.36ppts) and hotels & restaurants (+7.3% y/y, +0.23ppts) categories. Meanwhile, deflation was recorded in communication (-4.2% y/y, -0.14ppts), furnishings, household equipment & maintenance (-2.2% y/y, -0.12ppts) and transport (-0.8% y/y, -0.09ppts).
We expect average annual inflation at 3.9% in 2025 and 3.0% in 2026, reflecting expectations of slowdown in food prices, supported by the ongoing deceleration in global food costs.
NBG kept its key rate unchanged at 8.0%
On 5 November 2025, the NBG maintained the monetary policy rate unchanged at 8.0%, citing persistently high inflation in flexible-price categories (mainly food) and ongoing global uncertainty. The NBG expects average annual inflation at c. 4.0% for 2025, easing to 3.5% in 2026. The next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for 17 December 2025.
International reserves at US$ 5.6bn in Oct-25
Gross international reserves increased by 37.2% y/y to US$ 5.6bn in Oct-25, according to NBG. On a monthly basis, the reserves were also up by 3.2% (+US$ 175.3mn). Changes in reserves were attributed to the changes in the value of monetary gold (+US$ 42.7mn m/m) along with the government and/or banking sector FX operations, and likely also to NBG’s FX trading via BMatch platform (information will be available on 25 November). Notably, as of Oct-25, monetary gold accounted for 16.4% of total international reserves.
