BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 22
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Georgia’s negative trade balance fell to $4.6 billion in 2020, Trend reports referring to the report of the Georgian National Statistics Office (Geostat).
However, despite a significant decline, the trade deficit is still very high and exceeds exports.
The EU countries are among the countries with which Georgia has a high payment deficit.
Georgia signed a free trade agreement with the EU in 2014 which let our country increase exports to the EU. In particular, in 2015 Georgia’s exports totaled $ 645 million, in 2019 - $ 819 million, in 2020 - $ 717 million.
In the reporting period exports to China with which Georgia also has a free trade agreement, grew from $ 202 million in 2019 to $ 476 million in 2020.
Despite the growth, imports from the EU still significantly exceed exports and in 2020 imports from the European Union amounted to $ 1.2 billion.
Georgia has a negative trade balance with 25 out of the 28 EU member states, while a positive trade balance is registered with only three countries - Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Estonia.
The largest trade turnover is recorded with Germany - $467 million, followed by Bulgaria - $422 million and Italy - $216 million.
Georgia's trade turnover with France, Holland, Spain, Poland, and Romania exceeds $100 million.
Georgia has the least trade turnover with Croatia, Cyprus, and Malta which amounts to less than $10 million.
Georgia's trade statistic with the European Union also includes the United Kingdom which is no longer a Member State of the European Union January 1, 2021, but its economy was part of the European Economic Area in the reporting year.
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