Trade Policy Review 2016: Georgia

Prior to the armed conflict with Russia in August 2008 and the world financial crisis in September, per capita income rose three-fold, GDP rose by nearly 10% per annum and Foreign Direct Investment more than doubled to an estimated 17,2% in 2007. But those twin shocks hit many sectors and dampened economic growth. Although there has been some diversification, Georgias export structure remains quite concentrated in traditional products. In agriculture, a sector critical for the economy, labour productivity is one tenth of that in the rest of the economy and the activity has registered a decline due to shortage of credit and the small size of land plots. The report says that continuing structural reforms will be key to strengthening Georgias resilience to shocks, sustaining growth, attracting investment into export activities and improving productivity; in short, in developing an enabling environment for export diversification in terms of both product composition and geograph