NBG publishes report on gross external debt of Georgia
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, December 30
It accounted for 102.3 percent of the last four quarters' GDP. During the third quarter of 2019, the gross external debt of Georgia decreased by 433.6 million USD. Out of that 261.4 million USD decrease was due to transactions, 198.0 - due to exchange rate changes and 0.2 million USD decrease - due to other changes. Meanwhile, price changes lead to an increase of 26.1 million USD.
According to NBG, public sector external debt amounted to 7.4 billion USD (21.9 billion GEL) or 42.6 percent of GDP. Out of which, the debt of the general government amounted to 5.3 billion USD (15.7 billion GEL) or 30.6 percent of GDP.
External liabilities of the National Bank of Georgia amounted to 404.6 million USD (1.2 billion GEL) or 2.3 percent of GDP. And, the bonds and loans of public enterprises were correspondingly 825.3 million USD (2.4 billion GEL) or 4.7 percent of GDP and 855.5 million USD (2.5 billion GEL) and 4.9 percent of GDP.
As the report reads, banking sector external debt amounted to 4.2 billion USD (12.6 billion GEL) or 24.4 percent of GDP; Other sectors' external debt stood at 4.5 billion USD (13.4 billion GEL) or 26.1 percent of GDP; While 3.3 billion USD (9.7 billion GEL) or 18.8 percent of GDP was the intercompany lending. 90.2 percent of the gross external debt of Georgia was denominated in foreign currency.
The net external debt of Georgia amounted to 10.1 billion USD (29.8 billion GEL) or 58.0 percent of GDP as of 30 September 2019. The net public sector external debt was 3.8 billion USD (11.1 billion GEL) or 21.7 percent of GDP.
External liabilities of the National Bank of Georgia decreased by 10.8 million USD, out of that, exchange rate changes led to a decrease of the debt by 8.1 million USD, transactions contracted the debt by 2.7 million USD.
By the end of the third quarter of 2019, the external debt of the National Bank of Georgia amounted to 404.6 million USD, of which 196.6 million USD are Special Drawing Rights (SDR)1 which have no maturity date, therefore there is no obligation to repay them as long as Georgia is a member of the IMF.
Gross external debt statistics are harmonized with BOP statistics. They include both the public sector (general government, public corporations and national bank) and the private sector (banking and other sectors) external debt. External debt statistics are compiled according to the methodology provided by the IMF's "External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users" (2003).
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is the central bank of Georgia. Its status is defined by the Constitution of Georgia. The main objective of the National Bank is to ensure price stability.