Georgia’s 2022 Foreign Trade Turnover Up 35.3%
Georgia’s foreign trade turnover has increased from the nine months January to September 2022, according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), up by 35.3% over the corresponding period in 2021 – to US$13.6 billion.
Georgia imported good worth US$9.5 billion during the 9M 2022 an increase of 34.4% over the same period in 2021. Georgia’s exports also increased by 37.4% over the same period in 2021 – up to US$4 billion. That produced a trade deficit in Georgia’s foreign trade balance of US$ $5.4 billion, or 39.8% of the national total trade turnover.
Georgia has been a beneficiary of the Ukraine conflict and Russian trade in particular, with Georgia receiving about USD 1.2 billion in income from Russia in 6M 2022 through remittances, tourism, and commodity exports, about 2.5 times higher than the same period in 2021.
This is a bit of a mixed bag as the total impact upon the Georgian economy and trade figures is still being felt. However, it appears clear that an increase in remittances to Russians who have migrated to Georgia will have had an effect, as will trade, as Russian buyers shifted to purchasing more Georgian products in the wake of EU sanctions and cross-border transit problems.
Georgian exports are likely to receive a boost coming into Q4 and early 2023 as the country can be expected to become a parallel import hub for Russia with goods from EU markets in particular being bought by Georgian wholesalers and retailers and then re-exported to the Russian market.
The situation remains fluid however is expected to benefit Georgian trade figures for the rest of this year and well into next.
Related Reading
