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 280.3 million USD (651.4 million GEL or 7.9 percent of the same period GDP) in the third quarter of 2015.

The negative balance of goods is the major contributor to the current account deficit. Trade of goods deficit increased by 5.6 percent annually and amounted to 1.2billion USD (2.7 billion GEL). Exports reduced by 24.1 percent and imports decreased by 8.9 percent annually.  Excluding the granted hepatitis C elimination medicaments from 2015 imports, the imports of goods annual reduction is 17.1 percent.

The positive balance of services (mostly due to exports of travel services) partially offsets the negative balance of goods. Exports of services increased by 8.2 percent, while imports of services decreased by 2.1 percent annually. The balance of travel services is the largest positive component of services account. Export of travel services increased by 14.2 percent annually and amounted to 741.8 million USD (1.7 billion GEL).

The positive balance of current transfers partially offsets current account deficit. Credit of current transfers increased by 15.3 percent annually and totaled to 468.0 million USD (1.1 billion GEL). The driver for growth was government sector transfers that increased 5.1 times annually. International aid received for hepatitis C elimination program (amounting to 175.2 million USD) is included in this figure. Credit of other sector transfers is reduced by 34.1 percent in the third quarter.

Net foreign direct investments, significant item for financing the current account deficit, amounted to 473.6 million USD (1.1 billion GEL)¹ accounting for 13.4 percent of Georgian GDP for the third quarter. Direct investments inflows went predominantly in transport and communication, financial and manufacturing sectors in the third quarter of 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=306&lng=eng#external

 

                                                      

¹FDI 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.