Agriculture, trade increase in 2013 boosts Georgia’s GDP
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Georgia’s agriculture and trade sectors increased significantly in 2013 and contributed to boosting the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The agriculture sector was 0.72 percent higher and the trade sector jumped 0.74 percent in comparison to other sectors in 2012, stated Policy and Management Consulting Group’s (PMCG) GDP economic outlook and indicators report.
Agriculture – the boosting sector
Based on the data from state statistics office Geostat, Georgia’s agriculture industry increased 9.8 percent (134.4 million GEL) while trade jumped 5.1 percent (109.5 million GEL) last year.
In particular, the data showed farming animals, production of fruits, nuts, beverage and spice crops, cereals and other crops increased significantly.
The export of agricultural products increased significantly - by 1.1 per cent (35.4 million GEL).
In total, the real GDP increased by 3.2 per cent (463.0 million GEL) in 2013 compared to 2012.
Industry – the largest contributor in GDP
In 2013 the industry sector increased by 6.9 per cent (200.2 million GEL) and was the largest contributor by 0.96 percentage point in real GDP growth (3.2%).
Despite this the construction sector decreased by -10.6 percent (-124.3 million GEL).
"This negatively reflected on the growth of real GDP (-0.71 percentage point). The reduction of the volume of construction is due to the slowing down of Government projects in infrastructure,” the report read.
Trade
Exports were the largest contributors to the country’s GDP. In 2013, export increased by 20.1 percent (2003.7 million GEL). Its GDP representation also increased by 0.9 percentage point, which equaled 5.1 percent.
Last year the volume of final consumption and import remained almost unchanged. The gross capital formation decreased by -12.2 percent (-922.5 million GEL) as a result of a reduction in Government investment, the report stated.
The growth rate of foreign direct investments (FDI) and real GDP reported similar trends. In particular, the volume of investments increased by 1.1 per cent (15.8 million GEL) but the growth rate of Georgia’s GDP slowed down (3.1 percentage point) compared to 2012.
"This may be due to the reduction of internal investments,” stated the report.
Re-export of motor cars leads the list of the top ten export items from Georgia equaling $152 million USD, or 22 per cent of total exports year in the first three months of 2014.
The top five exported commodities to Russia are wine (30%), mineral water (18%), ferro-alloys (7%), electricity (6%) and citruses (4%).
The Georgian Government plans to stimulate domestic production and develop production-oriented industries through a new state program named Produce in Georgia.
In the first three months of this year, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) reached $260 million, which was a 15 percent improvement on the same period of last year, reported state statistics office Geostat.
Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture has presented more than 100 new enterprises funded by various Government programs to enhance and develop the country’s agricultural sector.