BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 10
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The COVID-19 pandemic is particularly disruptive for the small and open Georgian economy, Trend reports via the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) report.
As reported, the impact of the external pandemic shock was wide-ranging, hitting export of goods, tourism and remittances, all very important pillars of the Georgian economy. Strict virus containment measures, imposed in March 2020, hit domestic demand and many small service providers.
Growth slowed down from 5.1 percent in 2019 to 2.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, and GDP fell by 12.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, with the trough of the cycle reached in April.
Preliminary indicators show that economic output contracted by 5 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2020.
"Tourism, which brought foreign exchange inflows close to one-fifth of GDP in 2019, recorded a 78 percent year-on-year fall of foreign visitors in the period January to September 2020, as international borders remained largely closed," the report said.
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