Baku, Azerbaijan, August 23
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Imports of goods in Georgia fell by 4.4 percent year-on-year in USD terms in July 2019 compared to the same period last year, Trend reports referring to TBC Research.
In euro, the imports fell by moderate 0.6 percent while in lari it increased by 12.1 percent year-on-year. At the same time, import prices went up by 15.5 percent, indicating still declining volume of imports when measured in real terms.
The decline of imports of petroleum products (-17.8 percent) with oil prices down by around 20 percent year-on-year in USD terms and lower imports of transport (-22.5 percent) due to the fall of passenger car imports (-27.1 percent) mostly explain the weak imports in July.
On the other hand, capital and intermediate goods imports picked-up, mostly due to the higher imports of copper ores destined for re-exports. Food and beverages (-1.7 percent) and consumer goods imports (-3.7 percent) somewhat declined, however, imports of durable goods was stronger.
In terms of the regions, imports decreased from the EU (-18.3 percent) and the CIS countries (-5.3 percent), while increased from the other countries (+5.9 percent).
The trade balance improvement continued over the last nine months as a result of continued growth of exports and despite weak imports.
