Foreign investments in Georgia down by a fifth in 2012

FDI in Georgia in 2012, broken down by sector. Preliminary data. (Source: investingeorgia.org.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Direct foreign investments in Georgia fell by almost a fifth in 2012, compared to 2011, according to data from the National Statistics Department (Geostat).

In 2012, the total amount of foreign investments was USD 912 million. This is five percent more than preliminary data earlier published by GeoStat, but 18.3 percent less than in 2011.

In the first quarter of 2012, the amount of foreign investments was USD 261 million. It fell to USD 218 million in the second quarter, continued to fall to USD 199 million in the third quarter, then increased to USD 234 million by the end of the year.

In 2011, the amount of foreign investments by the end of the year was USD 343 million.

Investments in Georgia originated in 72 countries in 2012; 65 in 2011 and 62 in 2010.

The largest amount of investments — USD 179. 4 million — went to the energy sector, followed by manufacturing with USD 167.9 million and the finance sector with USD 162. 6 million.

The top partner countries for direct investments are Germany with USD 138.8 million, UK with USD 93.6 million and Turkey with USD 81.1 million. Other countries from where investments came are Azerbaijan, Luxemburg, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, China and the Netherlands.

Direct foreign investments made up 6 percent of GDP in 2012. It was 8 percent of GDP in 2011; and 7 percent in 2010.

The amount of reinvestment in 2012 was 13 percent of all direct foreign investments.