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        Georgia’s external trade turnover amounted to $12.83bn in 2019, an increase of 2.7% compared to the previous year, Geostat data shows.
The value of exports went up by 12.4% y/y and reached $3.77bn, while imports decreased 0.8% y/y, amounting to $9.06bn.
The trade deficit of Georgia in 2019 thus amounted to $5.29bn.
In December 2019, the value of exports was $390.4mn (+18.7% y/y), while imports amounted to $927mn (+12.8% y/y).
  5.1.2​Current account dynamics
    Georgia’s CA deficit shrinks to historic low in 2019
   Georgia’s current account deficit shrunk by 25% y/y to $897mn in 2019. That accounted for 5.1% of the year’s GDP, the smallest value in absolute terms since 2005,​ according to data published by the country’s central bank under BPM5 methodology.
Furthermore, the CA gap remains below foreign direct investment (under BPM5, again) for the second year in a row—a robust fundamental likely to deteriorate maintaining significant pressures on the exchange rate during the coming quarters as tourism revenues and wage remittances evaporate.
Net direct investments rose 11.3% y/y to $1.05bn and gross inflows advanced by only 3.2% y/y to $1.31bn.
The CA gap widened by 24% y/y to $539mn in the fourth quarter of the year, though.
The balance of goods is the major negative element in Georgia’s current account. The deficit decreased by 9.3% to $3.73bn in 2019 but the annual decrease was more moderate (-0.5%, to $1.11bn) in Q4.
The positive balance of services (mostly due to exports of travel services) partially offset the negative balance of goods. Net exports of services decreased by 3.6% in 2019, but they still amounted to $2.16bn and the annual dynamics in Q4 were positive: +2.2% y/y to $266mn. The balance of travel services is the largest positive component of the services account: $2.61bn in 2019 and $506mn in Q4.
The positive balance of current transfers also offset part of the current account deficit. Particularly, the wage remittances officially reported as such and
 22​ GEORGIA Country Report ​April 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com
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