Tourist arrivals up 32.4% y/y in January 2017
Total international arrivals to Georgia increased 19.8% y/y to 0.39mn visitors in January 2017, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Arrival growth was mainly driven by surge in tourist arrivals increasing 32.4% y/y to 0.15mn persons (39.8% of total) in January 2017 after posting a 19.0% y/y growth in 2016. Out of top countries by arrivals, in January 2017 visitors continued to increase from Armenia (+31.4% y/y), Azerbaijan (+7.1% y/y), Russia (+40.3% y/y), and Ukraine (+14.0% y/y), while arrivals were flat from Turkey (-0.8% y/y). Arrivals from EU were up 26.1% y/y.
International reserves up 14.3% y/y in January 2017
Gross international reserves were up 14.3% y/y to US$ 2.8bn in January 2017, while reserves were up 1.4% m/m (+US$ 39.7mn), according to NBG. The increase in reserves was related to government FX operations and/or asset revaluation.
Galt & Taggart tops the arrangers’ league table for domestic bond issuances in the Caucasus states, published by Cbonds Information Agency. In 2016 Galt & Taggart completed seven deals, which involved the issuance of 311 million in GEL-denominated and 30 million in US dollar-denominated bonds for Georgian corporations and international financial institutions.