According to GeoStat, the completion of the phase of construction of the main gas pipeline project combined with the transfer of the ownership of several enterprises to
Georgian residents and the reduction of responsibilities towards non-resident direct investors account for the reasons behind the fall in investments.
During the first nine months of 2018, 998 million USD worth of investments came to Georgia in total which compared to 2017 marks a 27% decrease.
According to the national statistics office, in the third quarter the highest value investments came from the following countries:
1) Netherlands - $ 49 million;
2) South Korea - $ 40 million;
3) Azerbaijan - $ 33 million;
4) Turkey - $ 32 million;
5) Panama - $ 27.7 million;
6) US - $ 27.1 million;
7) Russia - $ 18.5 million;
8) Luxemburg - $ 16.7 million;
9) France - $ 12.4 million;
10) UAE - $ 10 million.
Investors from offshore zones (Panama) are also included on the list of the largest investors. A certain portion of investments coming from offshore zones are investments
made by Georgian companies or Georgian businessmen. With regard to the economic sector, the largest amount of investments (56 million USD)
went to the manufacturing industry, a 27% increase when compared to the previous year. In second place with 54 million USD in investments is the transport sector, where
investments were reduced by 54%. The energy sector is in third place, with 46 million USD in investments, still 50% less than the previous year.
Foreign Direct Investments are one of the sources of foreign currency in Georgia. Reductions have a negative impact on the national currency exchange rate.
