Georgia’s Foreign Direct Investment Spikes in Q1 2016

TBILISI – Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Georgia amounted to USD 376 million (800 million GEL) in the first quarter of 2016, up 103 per cent year-on-year according to preliminary data from the same period in 2015, the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) said.

Geostat named Azerbaijan, Turkey and the UK as Georgia’s leader investor countries. Azerbaijan has already invested USD 137 million (291 million GEL), or 36 per cent of all FDIs. Geostat said the majority of Azeri investments went to projects carried out by British Petroleum in Georgia’s transport and communication sectors.

Investments from Turkey significantly spiked in the first quarter of 2016, reaching USD 57 million (121 million GEL). Turkish investments in the same period in 2014 amounted to USD 25 million (53 million GEL) and USD 27 million (57 million GEL) in 2015.

First quarter investments from the United Kingdom also showed a dynamic increase, reaching USD 44 million (93 million GEL) that 12 per cent of all FDIs.

Since 2014, South Korea has invested only USD 29 million (61 million GEL) into Georgia in the third quarter of 2015. That total was easily eclipsed in the first quarter of this year with South Koreans already investing USD 32 million (68 million GEL).

The data provided by Geostat shows that three major economic sectors make up 79 per cent of all FDI’s in the first quarter.

The largest share, USD 200 million (425 million GEL), of FDI’s was allocated to the transportation and communications sector. Just over 58 million (123 million GEL) was invested into the financial sector and USD 40 million (85 million GEL) into the energy sector.

By Eka Karsaulidze