January-October: Georgia’s external trade grows 22%

Georgia’s external trade has grown 22 percent in the first 10 months of the year, shows latest data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

Between January and October Georgia's external merchandise trade (excluding non-declared trade) reached $9.95 billion.

The value of Georgia’s export dropped seven percent to $1.70 billion, while the value of imports increased 31 percent to $8.24 billion, said Geostat.

Georgia’s trade deficit equalled $6.54 billion in the first 10 months of 2016, which was a 66 percent share of the country's total trade turnover, showed preliminary data by the Geostat.

Trade deficit is an economic measure of a negative balance of trade in which a country's imports exceeds its exports.

Geostat said imports, excluding the Hepatitis C treatment, were worth $5.85 billion or two percent less compared to the same period of the previous year.