Georgia’s GDP Grows 3.4 % in March

The recently published data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) shows a growth in Georgia’s economy. The estimated real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate amounted to 3.4 percent year-on-year in March 2016. The estimated real GDP average growth equaled 2.3 percent for the first quarter quarter of 2016 year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, recently claimed that the country was preparing for a huge boost in economic growth and the goal was to achieve 3.5 percent economic growth in 2016 and hit six percent in 2017.

Other institutions like the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) projected Georgia's economic growth will reach three percent in 2016. Global rating agencies Moody’s and Bloomberg also forecast Georgia’s real economic growth will average three percent in 2016. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected six percent growth in 2017.

Geostat produces monthly rapid estimations of real GDP growth using administrative data on VAT taxpayers’ turnover, fiscal and monetary statistics. The compilation of rapid estimates is an internationally adopted practice to obtain preliminary monthly growth of real GDP. For those sectors where preliminary monthly data do not exist (e.g. agriculture, non-observed economy etc.), the estimations are based on the data for previous periods. Therefore, the actual quarterly real GDP growth may significantly differ from monthly rapid estimates.

Furthermore, the data on VAT taxpayers’ turnover for the previous months might be updated on a monthly basis, implying corresponding adjustments of real GDP growth estimates.

Eka Karsaulidze