Quarter II FDI in Georgia down by 53.7%

Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat) has released the preliminary report about the Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Georgia in the Quarter II, 2019, according to which the FDI amounted to $187.0 million in Q2 2019 which is 53.7 percent less compared to the adjusted data of Q2 2018.

“The main reasons for decreasing the FDI included completion of a pipeline project, reduction in liabilities to non-resident direct investors and reduction of the amount of reinvestment,” Geostat reports.

Since 2012, the FDI statistics looks as follows:

• 2012 – $ 1048.2 million
• 2013 – $ 1039.2 million
• 2014 – $ 1837.0 million
• 2015 – $ 1729.1 million
• 2016 – $ 1652.3 million
• 2017 – $ 1962.6 million
• 2018 - $1265.2 million
• 2019 - $473.2 million (Q1 and Q2)

The shares of FDI by major foreign direct investor countries in Q2 2019 were distributed as follows:

• Netherlands - 31.1 percent
• Turkey - 19.2 percent
• The United States -14.7 %
• Azerbaijan – 8.4%
• Panama – 8.3%
• Czech Republic – 7.9%
• Korea – 7.6%
• Other countries – 2.8 percent

The share of FDI by three major economic sectors reached 69.6 percent in Q2 2019. The largest share of FDI was registered in the energy sector, reaching USD 63.7 million in Q2 2019, the manufacturing sector was the second with USD 38.4 million, followed by the hotels and restaurants sector with USD 28.1 million. Transport sector amounted to 26.5% of the total FDI in quarter two while real estate sector had 22.8%.

To note, the Geostat adjusted statistics of 2018 read that Foreign Direct Investments in Georgia amounted to $1 265.2 million in 2018 down 35.5 percent from 2017 and up 2.7 percent from the preliminary data of 2018.

The list of last year’s top investors looks as follows:

• Azerbaijan – 19.5%
• The Netherlands – 16.5%
• The United Kingdom – 14.1%
• The United States – 8.1%
• China – 6%
• Czech Republic – 5.9%
• Panama – 5.9%
• Russia – 5.5%
• Luxembourg – 4.0%
• Turkey – 3.9%.

In addition, the share of FDI by three major economic sectors reached 48.0 percent in 2018. The largest share of FDI was allocated in the financial sector, totaling $270.7 million. The construction sector was the second with $173.0 million, followed by the transports and communications with $163.0 million.