World Bank: Georgia’s economy to grow by 5.2% in 2017

Georgia’s economy will experience 5.2 percent growth in 2017, forecasts the World Bank Group.

In its annual report Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank Group further projects Georgia’s economy to hit 5.3 percent growth in 2018 and five percent in 2019.

With this forecast, Georgia is one of the leading countries among the European and Central Asian countries in terms of economic growth.

The World Bank had formerly predicted 3.4 percent economic growth in Georgia for 2016. However, preliminary data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) showed the economy grew only 2.4 percent in the first 11 months of 2016.

Meanwhile, in June of 2016, the World Bank projected Georgia's economy to experience 4.5 percent growth in 2017 and five percent in 2018. With the release of its most recent report, the Bank has raised the economic growth prognosis by 0.7 percent for 2017.

As for government authorities, Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the goal was to achieve 3.5 percent economic growth in 2016 and hit six percent in 2017.

The World Bank projected Georgia will be the leading country in the region in terms of economic growth. Georgia will experience the highest growth (5.2 percent) this year compared to the neighbour countries: Armenia (2.7 percent), Azerbaijan (1.2 percent), Russia (1.5 percent) and Turkey (3 percent).

As per the report, the global economic growth prognosis has been reduced for the years of 2017 and 2018. As reported it will be 2.7 percent in 2017 and 2.9 percent - in 2018, while it will be 2.4 percent for the European and Central Asian countries.

With the economic growth forecast for 2017, Georgia is ahead of Bulgaria (3.2 percent), Hungary (2.6 percent), Poland (3.1 percent), Romania (3.7 percent), Croatia (2.5 percent), Moldova (2.8 percent) and others. (Agenda)