2018 was an important year in terms of increased external sector activity, particularly in terms of increased export revenues, tourist revenues and money transfers, Koba Gvenetadze, the President of the National Bank of Georgia, said while delivering an annual report to the Parliament.

According to the report, the current account deficit is only 7.7 percent of GDP, which is the lowest rate during the last 5 years.

"It is noteworthy that the current account balance was positive in the 3rd quarter of 2018 – for the first time in the history of independent Georgia. The improvement of the trade balance in service, which increased by USD 220 million in 2018, had a positive impact on the current account deficit. The tourism revenues have increased by GEL 518 million (by 19 percent). Goods trade deficit worsened with 0.2 pp of gross domestic product in 2018, amounting to 25.4 percent. The export was significantly increased in 2018, however, the export growth was hampered by the difficulties in the Turkish economy…Finally, the annual export growth increased by 23.4 percent, while import grew inequality in 2018. In the first half, import growth was quite high, but in the second half of the year, the growth rate was significantly reduced.

In total, the import grew by 15.5 percent in 2018 and it has slightly overbalanced the export growth,” the NBG President said.