Page 25 - GEORptNov19

by 5.0% y/y and amounted to $578mn.
The positive balance of the current transfers also reduced the current account deficit. The credit of current transfers decreased by 7.0% totaling $346mn. A significant contribution was made by the smaller profits reported and retained by the foreign direct investment companies: $87mn, some $105mn less than in the first quarter last year.
This had an effect on foreign direct investments as well. Gross foreign direct investments in Georgia decreased by 6.35 y/y to $281mn in the quarter, but equity investments increased by 28% y/y to $159mn. Re-invested earnings were smaller in the quarter, dragging down the headline FDI figure.
5.1.3​ Capital flows
Money transfers to Georgia up 7.8% y/y in August
The volume of money transfers from abroad to Georgia during August constituted $146.4mn (GEL428.5mn), 7.8% up year on year, the National Bank of Georgia has said.
Over the past 12 months ending August, inflows rose by 8% y/y to $1.66bn, or nearly 10% of the country's annual GDP. The transfers, mostly wage remittances from Georgians working abroad, have risen by an average rate of around 10% per year over the past three years—after dropping by one-quarter in 2015 from 2014.
Nearly one quarter of the transfers came from Italy and Greece and the European Union accounted for 38% of the total. Transfers from Russia made up another 24% of the total while the US accounted for 10%.
In August 2019, $19.0mn (or GEL55.7mn) was transferred out of Georgia, 0.5% more compared to August last year.
25​ GEORGIA Country Report​ November 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com