Page 29 - GEORptMay21

imminent in the country, with another lockdown set to follow.
It was during this period that the NBG intensified its foreign exchange interventions. As a result, $500mn in FX auctions was sold in the fourth quarter.
In a report published in December, Tao Zhang, deputy executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), noted that the need for interventions in Georgia would continue into 2021. On January 6, the NBG held its first foreign exchange auction, selling $30mn.
5.2 FDI
Georgia - FDI 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020*
FDI ($ mn)
1,022.9 1,039.2 1,837.0 1,728.8 1,652.6 1,978.3 1,306.3 1,310.8 616.9
FDI (% of GDP)
5.25 5.93 10.84 11.89 11.27 11.88 7.5 7
Source: Geostat, CEIC
FDI flowing to Georgia drops to 15-year low in 2020
The foreign direct investment (FDI) flow to Georgia amounted to $616.9mn in 2020, down 52.9% from 2019, according to the preliminary data announced by statistics office Geostat. The figure was the lowest recorded in 15 years. Georgia did not have such a small level of FDI even in 2008-2009, a post-war period for the country.
Geostat head Gogita Todradze explained that the main reason for the decrease in FDI was the transfer of the ownership of several large enterprises to Georgian residents from non-residents, which reduced the value of foreign direct investment by $340.5mn.
More specifically, Geostat referred to the donation of assets to local charity Cartu by foreign financial vehicles of billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. "More specifically, the reason for such a large-scale reduction is the free transfer of hotels and restaurants, as well as the charity fund of the construction company [Cartu] in the fourth quarter of 2020, which reduced foreign direct investment by about $300mn," said Gogita Todradze.
Ivanishvili transferred a significant part of his businesses and real estate in Georgia, which he owned through offshore companies, to Cartu Charitable
29 GEORGIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com