Similar to the year 2022, Georgia stayed on the path of economic recovery from COVID-19 in 2023 as well. According to GeoStat’s preliminary estimates, the real GDP continues to show a relatively high growth rate, measuring at 7.5% y/y in 2023 – which is remarkably higher than the NBG’s real GDP growth expectation of 6% from October 2023.

In June 2023, responding to appeals from the Georgian Flour Producers Association, the Georgian government imposed a temporary import duty on wheat flour imported from Russia. This advocacy by the Association began after Russia implemented a “floating tariff” on wheat in 2021, making wheat imports more expensive compared to wheat flour.

CCI declines further. After a small decline in the Consumer Confidence Index in January, the downward trend continued further in February – the CCI dropped from -15.5 in January to -17.7 in February (by 2.2 index points). On this occasion, the two sub-indices diverged in different directions

In February 2024, Georgian power plants generated 1,022 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 3% increase in the total generation compared to the previous year (in February 2023, the total generation was 987 mln. kWh).

Geostat has released its rapid estimate of real GDP growth for January 2024. The estimated growth stands at 5.8%, while the estimated growth of 2023 reached 7.5%.