Gross External Debt of Georgia

Gross External Debt of Georgia

28 December, 2020

Gross external debt statistics are harmonized with BOP statistics. They include both public sector (general government, public corporations and national bank) and private sector (banking and other sectors) external debt. External debt statistics are compiled according to the methodology provided by the IMF's "External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users" (2003).

The gross external debt of Georgia amounted to 19.7 billion USD (64.7 billion GEL) as of 30th of September 2020. It accounted for 120.4 percent of the last four quarters' GDP. During the third quarter of 2020 the gross external debt of Georgia increased by 781.5 million USD. Out of that, 584.3 million USD increase was due to transactions, 83.3 million USD increase - due to price changes, 65.0 million USD increase due to other changes and 48.9 million USD increase was due to exchange rate changes.

Public sector external debt amounted to 8.9 billion USD (29.3 billion GEL) or 54.6 percent of GDP. Out of which, debt of the general government amounted to 6.8 billion USD (22.2 billion GEL) or 41.4 percent of GDP. External liabilities of the National Bank of Georgia amounted to 457.8 million USD (1.5 billion GEL) or 2.8 percent of GDP, and, the bonds and loans of public enterprises were correspondingly 794.9 million USD (2.6 billion GEL) or 4.9 percent of GDP and 904.4 million USD (3.0 billion GEL) and 5.5 percent of GDP.

Banking sector external debt amounted to 4.4 billion USD (14.6 billion GEL) or 27.2 percent of GDP; Other sectors' external debt stood at 4.7 billion USD (15.6 billion GEL) or 29.1 percent of GDP; While 3.3 billion USD (10.7 billion GEL) or 19.9 percent of GDP was the intercompany lending. The 91.7 percent of the gross external debt of Georgia was denominated in foreign currency.

The net external debt of Georgia amounted to 11.6 billion USD (38.3 billion GEL) or 71.3 percent of GDP as of 30 September 2020. Net public sector external debt was 5.1 billion USD (16.8 billion GEL) or 31.4 percent of GDP.

External liabilities of the National Bank of Georgia increased by 10.2 million USD, out of that, exchange rate changes led to increase of the debt by 10.3 million USD, transactions has reduce the debt by 35.2 thousand USD. By the end of the third quarter of 2020, the external debt of the National Bank of Georgia amounted to 457.8 million USD, of which 202.7 million USD are Special Drawing Rights (SDR)1 which have no maturity date, therefore  there is no obligation to repay them as long as Georgia is a member of the IMF.

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

1Allocated SDR is international reserve asset created by the IMF that is allocated to member countries in proportion to their IMF quotas. Allocated SDR is a liability that has no maturity date, therefore there is no obligation to repay them as long as the country is a member of the IMF. The amount of the above mentioned allocated SDR is presented in the assets of the National Bank and thereafter the net liability of the National Bank equals zero. From 2009, the IMF changed its methodological treatment towards SDR and, according to the new approach, allocated SDR is also recorded in liabilities.