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Georgia’s exports decreased by 22% y/y to $252mn in March, national statistics office Geostat said, giving a preliminary estimate. Imports fell 13% y/y to $655mn. The trade deficit shrank to $403mn.
Across the first quarter, the trade deficit continued to increase. Total exports contracted by 5.9% y/y to $778mn while imports fell slightly by 1.4% to nearly $2bn. Thus, the deficit edged up by 1.7% y/y to $1.2bn in the first three months of the year.
5.1.2 Current account dynamics
IMF forecasts Georgia’s current account gap will double to 10% of GDP this year
Georgia’s GDP looks set to contract by 4% this year given the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) health and economic crisis before expanding by 3% in 2021, according to the l atest World Economic Outlook forecasting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), released on April 14.
The drop in tourism activity, which is marked out as a main driver behind the anticipated economic slowdown, as well as smaller wage remittances from Georgians abroad will result in the current account deficit widening to 10.1% of GDP this year from 5.1% in 2019, the IMF added. The gap would then narrow
28 GEORGIA Country Report June 2020 www.intellinews.com
