PM praises 2023 economic growth as “quite strong achievement” amid “external, internal threats”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday presented an annual report of the Government’s work to the Parliament, where he said the Georgian economy had grown by 7.5 percent over the first five months of 2023 and called the result “quite a strong achievement” amid the Russia-Ukraine war and the “threat of use of nuclear weapons”.

He also told lawmakers “maintain[ing] strong economic development” was the “main task” of the Government in the circumstances.

The PM alleged “external threats” and “internal enemies” among challenges for the domestic development, but added his Government had succeeded in creating “one of the fastest developing economies in the world” despite them.

Georgia has had a 10 percent economic growth over the last two years [...] What the [ruling] Georgian Dream [party] has been able to achieve over the last 10 years is truly unprecedented. We have a continuous peaceful period, a continuous stable period, which is the basis for the development of our country”, Garibashvili said.

The National Statistics Office of Georgia on Friday said the Georgian economy grew seven percent in May. Estimated real growth was registered in sectors of construction, information and communication, trade, transportation and storage, financial and insurance activities. Decline was registered in manufacturing and real estate. 

Garibashvili also noted the domestic economy grew by almost ₾30 billion ($11.52bln) over the past three years.

He told MPs the gross domestic product stood at about ₾50 billion ($19.20bln) two years ago before reaching  ₾60 billion ($23bln) in 2021 and ₾72 billion ($27.64bln) in 2022. He said the Government expected the number to hit ₾80 billion ($30.71bln) for 2023.