Gov’t raising economic growth forecast from 5% to 6.5%, increasing budget by $190mln
PM Garibashvili said the Government had raised its growth forecast for 2023 from the earlier 5% to 6.5% and was adjusting the state budget with a ₾500 million increase based on the increased growth rate. Photo: PM's press office
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said the Government had raised its growth forecast for 2023 from the earlier five to 6.5 percent and was adjusting the state budget with a ₾500 million ($190mln) increase based on the increased growth rate.
Garibashvili noted the budget was increasing for the third year running and enabled financing “very important” programmes over the recent years.
We will also finance other important projects that are proceeding at an active pace, be it infrastructure, social direction or healthcare”, he said.
We have already started working on the new 2024 budget. We discussed the first version of the budget with the Minister of Finance and his team, as well as in the format of the Economic Council, and we will present it to the Parliament at the end of the month, around September 29”, Garibashvili added.
The PM also said the Government debt had been lowered from 60 percent of the gross domestic product two years ago to around 38 percent, while reserves were “at an all-time high” of over $5.5 billion.
He also cited “historic low” figures for poverty and unemployment and an “almost tenfold” increase in citizen deposits in commercial banks over the past decade. “The economy is completely different this year than it was 10 years ago”, he claimed.
July statistics published by the National Bank of Georgia last month showed commercial banks in Georgia loaned ₾47.79 billion ($18.18bln) and received deposits of ₾47.78 billion ($18.18bln) in July.
The volume of loans increased by 0.98 percent compared to the previous month, while the number of deposits increased by 2.11 percent month-on-month.
In July, the volume of term deposits increased by 2.44 percent while also increasing for on-demand deposits by 1.91 percent, the NBG also said.
Loans taken out in the national currency amounted to ₾7.50 billion ($2.85bln), while loans in foreign currencies constituted ₾13.48 billion ($5.13bln).
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Vakhtan Tsintsadze on Thursday said the Government’s “reasonable” macroeconomic policy was ensuring Georgia's resilience to external shocks and “positive trends” of economic growth would be maintained in the coming months.
The Georgian economy grew 5.5 percent in July year-on-year and 7.2 percent in the first seven months of 2023, the National Statistics Office of Georgia said on Friday. Last month’s growth was mainly driven by estimated real growth in financial and insurance activities, construction, trade, professional, and scientific and technical sectors, the Office said.
Natia Turnava, the Acting President of the National Bank of Georgia, on Wednesday said the domestic economic growth this year could exceed the planned six percent.
Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Monday said the economic recovery from the pandemic was "progressing at a faster pace than expected", with the development setting expectations "much higher" than the projected six percent economic growth this year.
Georgian economy grew 7.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2023 while the nominal gross domestic product amounted to ₾19.28 billion ($7.35bln), the National Statistics Office said on Monday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday highlighted Georgia as a “global hub for business and finance” and one of the world’s “fastest-growing” economies while addressing the United Nations General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit in New York.
The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday said high foreign direct investment and lower unemployment had supported “strong growth” for the Georgian economy, and raised its growth forecast for 2023 from the earlier 4.5 to six percent. “The growth will moderate slightly to five percent in 2024, in light of an expected return to growth potential and possible fallout from slowing global expansion”, the ADB said.
The gross external debt of Georgia increased by $260.3 million during the second quarter of 2023 and stood at $24.2 million as of June, the National Bank said in its latest update of national debt statistics on Friday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said the country’s budget for 2024, planned with a 5.2 percent economic growth, would be ₾27.800 billion ($10.35bln).
The Georgian economy grew 5.1 percent in September year-on-year, while the average real gross domestic product growth between January and September equalled 6.8 percent, the National Statistics Office said on Tuesday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday said the Government’s “correct policy” had led to the “record-high” figure of 1.366 million employed individuals across the country in the third quarter of 2023.