Balance of Payments of Georgia (II Quarter 2015)
30 September, 2015
Balance of Payments statistic is compiled according to the methodology provided by the IMF’s “Balance of Payments Manual, Fifth edition”.
The current account deficit amounted to 354.7 million USD (809.1 million GEL or 10.4 percent of the same period GDP) in the second quarter of 2015.
The negative balance of goods is the major contributor to the current account deficit. Trade of goods deficit decreased by 7.0 percent annually and amounted to 991.0 million USD (2.3 billion GEL). Exports reduced by 21.8 percent and imports decreased by 14.3 percent annually.
The positive balance of services (mostly due to exports of travel services) partially offsets the negative balance of goods. Exports of services decreased by 0.4 percent and imports of services by 0.1 percent annually.
The balance of travel services is the largest positive component of services account. Export of travel services increased by 7.1 percent annually and amounted to 460.1 million USD (1.0 billion GEL).
The positive balance of current transfers partially neutralizes current account deficit. Credit of current transfers increased by 12.3 percent annually and totaled to 446.9 million USD (1.0 billion GEL). The driver for growth was government sector transfers, that increased by 4.1 times annually. International aid received for hepatitis C elimination program (amounting to 143.2 million USD) is included in this figure. Credit of other sector transfers is reduced by 24.6 percent in the second quarter.
Net foreign direct investments, significant item for financing the current account deficit, amounted to 314.3 million USD (716.9 million GEL)1 accounting for 9.2 percent of Georgian GDP. Direct investments inflows went predominantly in transport and communication, financial and manufacturing sectors in the second quarter 2015.
The presented statistical information is published on the website of the National Bank of Georgia under the heading “Statistics”:
https://www.nbg.gov.ge/index.php?m=304
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1 FDI data slightly differs from Geostat’s preliminary statistics. FDI data usually rises after the annual survey, due to corrections made to the quarterly profit-loss data. According to the IMF’s methodology and the recommendations of the 2012 IMF ROSC mission, BOP quarterly statistic is adjusted in order to correct this problem. After the completion of the annual survey, the final FDI data is released by Geostat and the BOP FDI record is adjusted accordingly.
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