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 120.4 million USD (291.4 million GEL or 2.9 percent of the same period GDP) in the third quarter of 2017. The negative balance of goods is the major contributor to the current account deficit. Trade of goods deficit decreased by 1.4 percent annually and amounted to 984.2 million USD (2.4 billion GEL) in the third quarter. Exports increased by 19.4 percent and imports by 7.7 percent annually. The positive balance of services (mostly due to exports of travel services) partially offsets the negative balance of goods. Exports of services increased by 24.3 percent and imports - by 19.5 percent. The balance of travel services is the largest positive component of the services account. Export of travel services increased by 32.3 percent annually and amounted to 1.1 billion USD (2.6 billion GEL).

The positive balance of the current transfers furthermore contributed to reduction of current account deficit. Credit of current transfers increased by 9.6 percent annually totaling 314.5 million USD (761.3 million GEL). However, transfers to the government sector declined.

Net foreign direct investments, significant item for financing the current account deficit, amounted to 525.6 million USD (1.3 billion GEL)¹ accounting for 12.8 percent of the third quarter GDP. The largest investment inflows were directed to transport and construction sectors.

 

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

 

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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.