Economy minister: IMF’s 2022 Georgian economy growth projection at 10.5%

Georgian economy minister Levan Davitashvili on Monday said the forecast of the International Monetary Fund projected the Georgian economy’s 2022 growth to be 10.5 percent, and highlighted the country exhibited “one of the highest” growth rates in the region.

The ministry quoted Davitashvili as saying the domestic economy “continues to grow this year despite the challenges in the region and globally”, and noting its post-pandemic recovery.

He added that adjusted data by the national statistics office showed the country’s economy had grown by 10.5 percent in 2021 and 10.2 percent between January and September of 2022.  

Davitashvili said increase in economic activities in the transportation, warehousing, construction, industry and service sectors, including activities related to tourism, had made a “significant contribution" to the growth this year.

On the other hand, foreign exchange inflows received from foreign trade, tourism, international shipping and other channels were an important factor in the growth of economic activity", Davitashvili added, adding the forecast was "quite encouraging" for the next five years.

Georgia should have the highest economic growth in Europe - 5.8 percent, this is the forecast of the International Monetary Fund", the minister pointed out and said the high growth had made a positive effect on employment trends.

In the third quarter of 2022 the level of unemployment decreased significantly, reached a historical minimum and amounted to 15.6 percent. This is a better indicator than what we had before the pandemic. In the third quarter [of 2022], the number of employees increased significantly - by 77,500 people [y/y], and compared to the figure of the third quarter of 2019 - by 47,400 people," Davitashvili noted.

Also noting 2022 was "positive" in terms of attracting direct foreign investments, he noted the volume of the investments had increased by 102 percent compared to the previous year and reached $922.9 million. He also said the figure marked a 62.5 percent increase over 2019, and noted the share of the European Union in direct foreign investments equalled 42.5 percent.