Georgia’s annual growth rate for 2017 looks set to reach (or even exceed) the government’s 4% target. According to the preliminary statistics released by GeoStat, Georgia’s real GDP growth was 4% year over year in second quarter this year. Based on this data, the ISET-PI forecast model predicts a 5.1% GDP growth in 2017, finchannel reported. Data on the second quarter suggests that the Georgian economy is continuing to recover from its sluggish growth of previous years. The recovery is due to improvements in both the domestic and external environment. In particular, improvements in consumer and business confidence, the growth of government expenditure, an increase in loans, hikes in exports of goods, rising tourism and increased money transfers were the main drivers of economic growth in Q2. On other hand, weaker-than-expected FDI inflow hindered growth in the reported period. In addition, high economic growth rates in neighboring countries were benefitting the Georgian economy. Both Armenia and Russia showed high annual growth rates of real GDP in Q2 2017, while Turkey is expected to reach 6% growth.
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