Georgia’s highest investors in 2019

By Natalia Kochaishvili

Tuesday, August 18

In 2019, the highest amount of FDI was made in the financial and energy sectors.

According to the data published by the National Bank, the official value of $1 became GEL 3.0686.

Geostat released revised data on foreign direct investment in 2019. According to statistics, $ 1.3 billion was invested in Georgia last year. The highest investments came from the United Kingdom ($ 236.6 million), Turkey ($ 175.3 million), and Ireland ($ 133.2 million).

In 2019, $ 53.7 million more investment came from the UK than in 2018. The highest increases were recorded in Ireland ($ 130.1 million) and Turkey ($ 125.4 million). Foreign direct investment fell the lowest last year from Azerbaijan ($ 210.6 million) and the Netherlands ($ 109.8 million).

The largest investor countries in terms of foreign direct investment in Georgia in 2019: The UK, Turkey, Ireland, the US, Netherlands, Panama, Luxembourg, Russia, China, Japan, and others.

The Statistics Service is also aware of the preliminary data of the first quarter of 2020 Foreign Direct Investment, according to which $ 1.7 billion of foreign direct investment was made in January-March this year. According to preliminary data, the highest investments in the first quarter came from the United Kingdom ($ 73.1 million) and the United States ($ 28.1) in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year, the number of foreign direct investment decreased by 45.2%.

Last year, the highest amount of foreign direct investment was made in the financial sector (20.8%) and energy (20.0%). Data from the financial sector also include data on foreign direct investment in banking, microfinance, and insurance organizations.

In 2019, compared to 2018, $ 1.9 million less was invested in the financial sector and $ 139.2 million more was invested in energy. In 2019, the largest decrease in investment by sectors of the economy was recorded in the construction sector (by $ 138.5 million) and amounted to $ 35.3 million. The number of investments in the real estate sector also decreased significantly (by $ 122.1 million), in which $ 8.7 million was invested.

The Statistics Office is also aware of the preliminary data of the first quarter of 2020 foreign direct investment, according to which $ 1.7 billion of foreign direct investment was made in January-March this year. In January-March this year, as well as last year, the highest investments were made in the financial ($ 95.1 million) and real estate ($ 33.9 million) sectors.