BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 11. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts that Georgia's current account deficit will grow in 2024 and 2025, Trend reports.
The growth of exports is expected to slow down to 5.7 percent in 2024, due to a decreased demand from other countries, like China and the euro area. However, in 2025, exports are predicted to increase by 10.4 percent.
Imports are also expected to grow more slowly, by 6.1 percent in 2024. This is due to Georgia's slow economic growth, and fewer cars reexported. But in 2025, the country's imports are expected to rise by 11.1 percent, the bank analysts expect.
Services, like tourism and transportation, are expected to grow too, but at a slower rate. At the same time, according to the ADB, money transfers to Georgia are predicted to stay around $3 billion over the next two years, which could make the value of Georgia's currency, the lari, go down a bit.
Despite the wider current account deficit in 2024, the country's foreign reserves are expected to bounce back in 2025 thanks to more money coming in from other countries, the bank added. Also, Georgia's debt to other countries is predicted to go down, as long as the value of the lari doesn't drop too much.
Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Georgia's current account deficit reached $558.9 million, as reported by the National Bank of Georgia. According to the National Bank's data, the current account deficit accounted for 4.3 percent of the GDP.