Georgia’s gross external debt reaches $14.1 billion

Georgia is borrowing more money off foreign lenders.

Latest figures from the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) revealed the country’s gross external debt increased by $437.4 million USD during the second quarter (Q2) of 2015, amounting to $14.1 billion (31.8 billion GEL) as of June 30, 2015.

The data noted Georgia’s gross external debt accounted for 90.9 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Meanwhile, from the $437.4 million increase, $341.7 million was due to transactions, said the Bank.

Here was how the debt was divided:

• Private sector external debt amounted to $8.2 billion (18.5 billion GEL) or 52.8 percent of GDP;
• Public sector external debt reached $5.9 billion (13.3 billion GEL) or 38.1 percent of GDP;
• Debt of the general government reached $4.3 billion (9.6 billion GEL) or 27.3 percent of GDP;
• The banking sector’s external debt amounted to $2.8 billion USD (6.3 billion GEL) or 17.9 percent of GDP;
• Private corporations' external debt stood at $2.5 billion (5.7 billion GEL) or 16.3 percent of GDP while 2.9 billion (6.5 billion GEL) or 18.6 percent of GDP was from inter-company lending;
• External liabilities of the NBG amounted to $233 million (524 million GEL) or 1.5 percent of GDP;
• The bonds and loans of public enterprises were valued at $837.7 million (1.9 billion GEL) or 5.4 percent of GDP and 605.5 million (1.4 billion GEL) or 3.9 percent of GDP respectively.

About 94 percent of the country’s gross external debt was denominated in foreign currency.

NBG noted the net external debt of Georgia amounted to $9.1 billion (20.5 billion GEL) or 58.6 percent of GDP as of 30 June 2015. Net public sector external debt was $3.4 billion (7.7 billion GEL) or 21.9 percent of GDP.

External liabilities of the NBG increased $1 million, while transactions lead to debt decrease of $3.4 million.

By the end of Q2 2015, the external debt of the NBG amounted to $233 million, of which $202.5 million were Special Driving Rights (SDR), which had no maturity date, therefore there were no obligations to repay them as long as Georgia was a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).