International arrivals up 188.1% y/y in May 2021
Total international arrivals (tourists and same-day arrivals) to Georgia increased by 188.1% y/y to 104.8k persons in May 2021, according to GNTA. This growth was solely driven by 264.1% y/y growth in tourist arrivals from last year’s low base, as same-day arrivals were down 16.3% y/y. As land borders opened from 1 June 2021, we expect international visitor growth to accelerate further. The largest contribution to international visitor growth came from Israel (+250x y/y), followed by Ukraine (+11x y/y) in May. Overall, in 5M21 total international arrivals stood at 317.5k (-73.3% y/y), of which tourist arrivals reached 288.9k (-64.7% y/y) persons. Meanwhile, we estimate tourism revenues at US$ 171.6mn (-61.5% y/y) in 5M21.
FDI down 28.3% y/y in 1Q21
FDI decreased by 28.3% y/y to US$ 125.4mn (3.6% of GDP) in 1Q21, according to Geostat’s preliminary figures. Based on Geostat, the reduction in FDI reflected reduced reinvestments and the ownership transfer from non-resident to the resident units in several companies. The financial sector was the largest FDI recipient at US$ 93.9mn (-1.2% y/y, 74.9% of total), followed by energy sector at US$ 35.5mn (28.3% of total), manufacturing at US$ 27.9mn (+512.7% y/y, 22.2% of total) and real estate at US$ 24.4mn (-30.3% y/y, 19.4% of total). UK topped the list of investors with US$ 88.4mn (+20.8% y/y), followed by Russia at US$ 31.9mn (+186.3% y/y) and Turkey at US$ 24.5mn (+94.6% y/y).
International reserves at US$ 4.2bn in May 2021
Gross international reserves increased by 15.6% y/y to US$ 4.2bn in May 2021 according to NBG. On a monthly basis, the reserves were up by 0.4% (+US$ 17.2mn). Changes in reserves were attributed to the government and banking sector FX operations, and/or asset revaluation
