The FINANCIAL — In July 2017, economic growth equaled to 3.8% while in all 7 months, according to the preliminary data, the average economic growth is 4.4%.
Nino Javakhadze, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, stated that in July of this year, the real GDP growth is recorded in the following areas:
Construction – 11.7% increase;
Hotels and Restaurants – 16.4% increase;
Trade – 4.8% increase.
“Georgian Government has planned the 4% economic growth for this year. We believe that this positive trend will be maintained during the following months and we will achieve even higher result. We have all the preconditions for that,” – Nino Javakhadze stated.
According to the Deputy Minister, the main factor of the economic growth and the economic development of the country is the private sector and the economic indexes characterizing the private sector itself is of outmost importance.
According to the latest news, in the first two quarters of 2017, the turnover of the business, compared to the same period of 2016, has increased by 16.9% while the output of the sectors has increased by 18.9%.
“There is an increase in terms of employment as well. In the quarter of 2017, the mean number of long-term employments is increased by 5.0% while the number of contractors is increased by 6.0%. The mean salary in the private sector has maintained the tendency of increasing and, compared to the same period of 2016, the relevant indicator is increased by 13.2% amounting to total 1 106,9 GEL,” – Nino Javakhadze noted.
According to the types of activities, the turnover has increased in almost every sectors. The highest contributors to the business sector turnover are such sectors as trade (+14%), art, entertainment and recreation (+39%), processing industry (+19%), construction (+21%) and energy (+21%).
As the Deputy Minister of Economy noted that the economy of the country is improving gradually and the increasing number of employments coincided with the decreasing number of self-employments is the confirmation of the fact and at the same time, it also illustrates the increase of the productivity.
“Foreign trade indicators are of outmost importance as well since they directly affect the economic growth and the export,” – Javakhadze noted.
In first 7 months of 2017, the growth of the export equals to 28.9% and it is caused by the increase of the export of such products as:
Copper ore and concentrates (+21%);
Ferroalloys (+14%);
Wine (+38%);
Medicines (+105);
Spirits (+52%).
Nino Javakhadze also talked about the unprecedented increase in the number of international travelers to Georgia. The Deputy Minister evaluated the recent truism indicators as very impressive.
“Over a million international travelers visited Georgia just in a month period, which is by 27.4% higher number compared to the same period of the previous year. Over 570 thousands of those travelers were tourists or the people who stayed here for 24 hours or more. The unprecedented number of visitors is recorded not only in August, but during the whole summer season as well” – Nino Javakhadze said.
According to the Deputy Minister, over 2.7 million international travelers (increase by 28%) visited Georgia in June to August of 2017, while 1.4 million (increase by 32.7%) of those travelers were tourists which means they stayed in the country for 24 hours or more.
In first 8 months of 2017, in total, over 5 million international travelers (increase by 18.9%) visited Georgia and the number of tourist reached 2.4 million people (increase by 29.4%).
The largest number of international travelers arrived from Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia and the EU countries. This year unprecedented number of tourists was recorded from Iran (+141.9%), Saudi Arabia (196.4%) and India (98.9%).
Nino Javakhadze highlighted that Georgian Government shall continue implementation of the reforms targeted at the economic growth and expressed hopes that these positive trends will be maintained in the future.
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