Tourist arrivals up 14.8% y/y in December 2016
Total international arrivals to Georgia increased 4.3% y/y to 0.49mn visitors in December 2016, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Arrival growth was mainly driven by surge in tourist arrivals increasing 14.8% y/y to 0.18mn persons (36.6% of total) in December 2016 after growing 14.1% y/y in previous month. Out of top countries by arrivals, in December 2016 visitors continued to increase from Armenia (+9.5% y/y), Azerbaijan (+3.9% y/y) and Ukraine (+14.0% y/y), while arrivals were down from Russia (-2.3% y/y) and Turkey (-16.7% y/y). Arrivals from EU were up 28.6% y/y. In 2016, total international arrivals were up 7.6% y/y to 6.35mn persons; Out of total, tourist arrivals accounted for 42.7% increasing 19.1% y/y, transit visitors were down 5.8% y/y (20.8% of total) and same-day visitors increased 4.4% y/y (36.5% of total).
Inflation rate at 1.8% y/y and 1.0% m/m in December 2016
The annual CPI inflation was 1.8% in December 2016 after 0.6% inflation in previous month, according to GeoStat. Core inflation was at 1.8% in December. Overall price changes were driven by price increases in alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+13.1% y/y, +0.80ppts), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+1.6% y/y, +0.51ppts), and transport (+2.2% y/y, +0.26ppts) categories.
On a monthly basis, inflation rate was 1.0% in December 2016. Price increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages (+1.5% m/m, +0.47ppts), and transport (+2.3% m/m, +0.27ppts) were the major drivers of monthly inflation dynamics.
Tax revenues above the budgeted figure in 2016
In December 2016, consolidated budget tax revenues were up 10.7% y/y to GEL 926.2mn. In 2016, consolidated budget tax revenues stood at GEL 8.8bn (+9.7% y/y) and accounted for 100.5% of annual tax revenue plan, which was revised upward by GEL 55mn in December 2016.
