Georgian Minister of Economy: ‘Georgia’s exports grow to record high’

Kumsishvili talked about several factors which led to an increase in exports last month. Photo: Georgia's Ministry of Economy.
Agenda.ge, 13 Jun 2018 - 18:25, Tbilisi,Georgia

"We have record growth in exports in May 2018 – a 50.2 percent growth, which is the result of active work for export growth and diversification”, says Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.

Kumsishvili talked about several factors which led to an iincrease in exports last month.

First of all we should mention that the geography of those countries with whom we have free trade deals has increased and soon Hong Kong will also be added to this list. Besides we are implementing business-support programs that encourage the production of export-oriented products. At the same time, we help local entrepreneurs in order to take on new markets”, said Kumsishvili.

To note, the National Statistics Office of Georgia published preliminary data on external merchandise trade of Georgia today, which said Georgia’s external trade grew by 24.5 percent in January-May 2018 and reached $4.89 billion.

In the first five months of 2018 the value of Georgia’s exports increased by 28 percent to $1.28 billion, while the value of imports also increased 23.3 percent to $3.61 billion with respect to January-May 2017, said the Geostat data.

Georgia’s trade deficit equalled $2.32 billion in January-May 2018, which was a 47.5 percent share of the country's total trade turnover.