National Bank: inflation at 1%, loans up by 18.3%, goods import increased by 7.2%, int’l reserves at $4.7 bln

The National Bank of Georgia on Wednesday provided an update of the current situation and macroeconomic indicators in the banking and financial sectors of the country by releasing updated figures in inflation, import and other data.

Inflation

Inflation is “still below the target rate”, the Bank said. In August, the annual inflation decreased to one percent, down by 0.1 percent from July. Core inflation, which excludes highly volatile prices of food, energy, vehicles, and cigarettes, stood at 0.9 percent. Local inflation also decreased to 1.1 percent in August, the body added.

Banking sector

Loans grew by 18.3 percent year-on-year in July, the central bank said. Dollarisation of deposits amounted to 48.5 percent, while dollarisation of the total credit portfolio decreased by  0.14 percentage points to 44.2 percent.

Foreign sector

In July, the import of goods increased by 7.2 percent annually. The Bank said the growth was mainly driven by the increased import of investment goods, while the import of intermediate and consumer goods groups showed moderate increases.

On the other hand, the registered export of goods in July increased by 29.9 percent year-on-year, reaching $684.6 million. The Bank said the increase was largely due to the rise in the export of consumer goods, with “significant” increases also observed in the export of intermediate and investment goods.

Additionally, official international reserves increased by $90.5 million compared to the previous month, reaching a total volume of $4.7 billion.