Macroeconomic Forecast Georgia

Georgia's trade in goods deficit rose to US$1.67bn in the first four months of 2012, marking a 25.5% increase on the same period a year earlier. Exports rose 10.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) during this period to US$726.5mn. However, imports continued to far outstrip exports, and rose more rapidly at 20.6% y-o-y in the first four months of the year, reaching US$2.40bn. We are currently forecasting a trade in goods deficit of US$3.55bn in 2012 and see the current account gap widening to US$1.70bn from US$1.68bn in 2011. Nevertheless, this will still mark a decline in the current account deficit as a percentage of GDP to 10.4% from 11.7% last year.

To read the full article, please choose one of the following options: