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 522.1 million USD (1.3 billion GEL or 14.2 percent of the same period GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The negative balance of goods is the major contributor to the current account deficit. Trade of goods deficit decreased by 6.9 percent annually and amounted to 1.2 billion USD (2.8 billion GEL). Exports decreased by 21.7 percent and imports by 13.4 percent annually.  Excluding the granted hepatitis C elimination medicines from imports, the imports of goods annual reduction was 19.2 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 5.2 percent, while imports of services decreased by 8.0 percent annually. The balance of travel services is the largest positive component of services account. Export of travel services increased by 9.0 percent annually and amounted to 427.7 million USD (1.0 billion GEL).

The positive balance of the current transfers partially offsets current account deficit. Credit of current transfers increased by 13.7 percent annually totaling 429.6 million USD (1.0 billion GEL). The growth was driven by the government sector transfers that increased 6.5 times annually, mainly due to the international aid received for hepatitis C elimination program (130.7 million USD). Meanwhile, current transfers of the other sectors decreased by 22.4 percent.

Net foreign direct investments, significant item for financing the current account deficit, amounted to 275.8 million USD (661.3 million GEL)¹ accounting for 7.5 percent of the fourth quarter GDP. The largest investment inflows were directed to financial sector and health care.

 

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

 

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.