Georgia Economy
Economy - overviewGeorgia's main economic activities include the cultivation of agricultural products such as citrus fruits, tea, hazelnuts, and grapes; mining of manganese and copper; and output of a small industrial sector producing alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, metals, machinery, and chemicals. The country imports the bulk of its energy needs, including natural gas and oil products. Its only sizable internal energy resource is hydropower. Despite the severe damage the economy has suffered due to civil strife, Georgia, with the help of the IMF and World Bank, has made substantial economic gains since 1995, achieving positive GDP growth and curtailing inflation. However, the Georgian Government suffers from limited resources due to a chronic failure to collect tax revenues. Georgia also suffers from energy shortages; it privatized the T'bilisi distribution network in 1998, but collection rates are low, making the venture unprofitable. The country is pinning its hopes for long-term growth on its role as a transit state for pipelines and trade. The start of construction on the Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-T'bilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline will bring much-needed investment and job opportunities.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $12.18 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
5.5% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $2,500 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 20.5%
industry: 22.6%
services: 56.9% (2003 est.)
Investment
18% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
54% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 27.9% (1996)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
37.1 (1996)
Inflation rate
4.8% (2003 est.)
Labor force
2.1 million (2001 est.)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 40%, industry 20%, services 40% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate
17% (2001 est.)
Budget
revenues: $603.5 million
expenditures: $700.5 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.)
Agriculture - products
citrus, grapes, tea, hazelnuts, vegetables; livestock
Industries
steel, aircraft, machine tools, electrical appliances, mining (manganese and copper), chemicals, wood products, wine
Industrial production growth rate
3% (2000)
Electricity - production
7.27 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
7.611 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
850 million kWh (2001)
Oil - production
2,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
31,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Natural gas - production
60 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption
1.16 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports
1.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Current account balance
$-365 million (2003)
Exports
$615 million (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
scrap metal, machinery, chemicals; fuel reexports; citrus fruits, tea, wine
Exports - partners
Russia 17.7%, Turkey 17.3%, Turkmenistan 12.2%, Armenia 8.6%, Switzerland 6.9%, Ukraine 6.3%, UK 5.9% (2003)
Imports
$1.25 billion (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
fuels, machinery and parts, transport equipment, grain and other foods, pharmaceuticals
Imports - partners
Russia 14%, UK 12.9%, Turkey 9.9%, Azerbaijan 8.3%, US 8%, Germany 7.3%, Ukraine 7%, France 4.9% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$190.7 million (2003)
Debt - external
$1.8 billion (2002)
Currency
lari (GEL)
Currency code
GEL
Exchange rates
lari per US dollar - 2.1457 (2003), 2.1957 (2002), 2.073 (2001), 1.9762 (2000), 2.0245 (1999)
