Georgia had a real economic growth of 5% in 2017, resulting from the consistent economic policy of the government and the productivity of the Georgian people. That high rate of growth has been maintained during the first months of the current year.
“In February of 2018, positive dynamics were significantly conditioned by improved foreign trade. In particular, in February of 2018, export increased by 25% and imports by 8.7%. Foreign Direct Investments have been extremely positive in 2017, reaching $1.86 billion. The growth trends have also been observed in tourism revenues, amounting to $2.7 billion in 2017, as Georgia expects to attract over 8 million visitors and $3 billion in 2018. As for other factors contributing to growth, net cash transfers have increased by 20.6%. It is also important that the current account deficit in 2017 reached one of the lowest in recent years, it has been decreased to 8.7% from the previous 13%, which means a reduction by $531 million”, noted the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili recently.
At the same time, trade liberalization and integration into world’s leading markets have become Georgia’s top foreign policy priorities. Georgia provides customs duty-free access to the market of 2 billion, provided by FTA’s with different countries including China, the countries of the EFTA, CIS, and DCFTA with EU.
Agreement with EFTA — Free trade deal between Georgia and four member countries of the European Free Trade Association comes into force in May. Georgia and EFTA states — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — signed the free trade agreement in June 2016. The agreement signals the deepening of the trade relations between the signing parties, enabling Georgian goods to be exported without tariff and non-tariff barriers to EFTA member nations.
Georgia started the discussions on free trade agreement with Gulf countries as well. At the April 10 meeting of Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili and the Minister of Economy of United Arab Emirates, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansuri, the free trade agreement was the main topic of discussions. “We have talked about the increase in trade volume between the two countries, as well as the amount of investments that comes from the United Arab Emirates”, said Kumsishvili, who is also the first Vice Prime Minister of Georgia in addition to his position as Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development.
The biggest achievement for Georgia in this direction in 2017 was the historic free trade agreement with China. The agreement made it possible to export Georgian wine, mineral waters and agricultural products to China and its market of 1.4 billion consumers with no tariffs, without additional customs fees and without any transition period.