Georgia Economy:
Georgia'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 has suffered from limited resources due to a chronic failure to collect tax revenues. Georgia's new government is making progress in reforming the tax code, enforcing taxes, and cracking down on corruption. Georgia also suffers from energy shortages; it privatized the T'bilisi electricity distribution network in 1998, but payment collection rates remain low, both in T'bilisi and throughout the regions. The country is pinning its hopes for long-term growth on its role as a transit state for pipelines and trade. The construction on the Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-T'bilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline have brought much-needed investment and job opportunities.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$14.45 billion (2004 est.)
GDP — real growth rate:
9.5% (2004 est.)
GDP — per capita:
purchasing power parity: $3,100 (2004 est.)
GDP — composition by sector:
agriculture: 20.5%
industry: 22.6%
services: 56.9%
(2004)
Labor force:
2.1 million (2001 est.)
Labor force — by occupation:
agriculture: 40%, industry: 20%, services: 40% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate:
17% (2001 est.)
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 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.5% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
18.5% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $671.7 million
expenditures: $804.7 million including capital expenditures of NA (2004 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 est.)
Electricity — production:
6.73 billion kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — consumption:
6.81 billion kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — exports:
300 million kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — imports:
850 million kWh (2002 est.)
Oil — production:
2,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — consumption:
31,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — exports:
NA
Oil — imports:
NA
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:
$-632.9 million (2004 est.)
Exports:
$909.4 million (2004 est.)
Exports — commodities:
scrap metal, machinery, chemicals, fuel reexports, citrus fruits, tea, wine
Exports — partners:
Turkey 18.3%, Turkmenistan 17.8%, Russia 16.2%, Armenia 8.4%, UK 4.9% (2004)
Imports:
$1.81 billion (2004 est.)
Imports — commodities:
fuels, machinery and parts, transport equipment, grain and other foods, pharmaceuticals
Imports — partners:
Russia 14%, Turkey 11%, UK 9.3%, Azerbaijan 8.5%, Germany 8.2%, Ukraine 7.7%, US 6% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$231.4 million (2004 est.)
Debt — external:
$1.8 billion (2002 est.)
Economic aid — recipient:
ODA: $150 million (2000 est.)
Currency:
lari (GEL)
Exchange rates:
lari per US$: 1.92 (2004 est.), 2.15 (2003 est.), 2.2 (2002 est.), 2.07 (2001 est.), 1.98 (2000 est.)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
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