The U.S. Department of State’s Investment Climate Statements provide information on the business climates of more than 170 economies and are prepared by economic officers stationed in embassies and posts around the world. They analyze a variety of economies that are or could be markets for U.S. businesses. The Investment Climate Statements are also references for working with partner governments to create enabling business environments that are not only economically sound, but address issues of labor, human rights, responsible business conduct, and steps taken to combat corruption. The reports cover topics including Openness to Investment, Legal and Regulatory Systems, Protection of Real and Intellectual Property Rights, Financial Sector, State-Owned Enterprises, Responsible Business Conduct, and Corruption.
Executive Summary
Georgia, located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, is a small but open market that benefits from international trade, tourism, and transportation. While it is susceptible to global and regional shocks, the country has made sweeping economic reforms since 1991 that have produced a relatively well-functioning and stable market economy. Average annual growth rate was over five percent from 2005 through 2022, and Georgia’s rankings in global business, governance, corruption, and other indexes have steadily climbed. Georgia ranked thirty-fifth in the Heritage Foundations’ 2023 Economic Freedom Index and 45th in Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perception Index. Fiscal and monetary policy are focused on low deficits, low inflation, and a floating real exchange rate. The COVID-19 pandemic placed significant pressure on the domestic currency and local economy, and Georgia’s economy contracted six percent in 2020. Despite this, Georgia’s economy rebounded in 2021, with 10.4 percent growth and continued to outperform expectations in 2022, with 10.2 percent growth. The IMF attributed this strong economic performance to tourism revenues, a surge in war-related immigration and financial inflows, and a rise in transit trade through Georgia. These factors have also lifted fiscal revenues, strengthened the current account balance and the lari, and supported reserve accumulation. Inflation remains elevated, reflecting high commodity prices and strong domestic demand. Growth and inflation are expected to moderate in 2023 with subsiding external inflows, less favorable global economic and financial conditions, smaller fiscal deficits, and a sound monetary policy stance.
Overall, business and investment conditions are sound, and Georgia favorably compares to regional peers. However, there is an increasing lack of confidence in the judicial sector’s ability to adjudicate commercial cases independently or in a timely, competent manner, with some business dispute cases languishing in the court system for years. Other companies complain of inefficient decision-making processes at the municipal level, shortcomings in the enforcement of intellectual property rights, lack of effective anti-trust policies, accusations of political meddling, selective enforcement of laws and regulations, including commercial laws, and difficulties resolving disputes over property rights. The Georgian government continues to work to address these issues, and despite these remaining challenges, Georgia ranks high in the region as a good place to do business.
The United States and Georgia signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty in 1994, and Georgia is eligible to export many products duty-free to the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences program.
Georgia suffered considerable instability in the immediate post-Soviet period. After regaining independence in 1991, civil war and separatist conflicts flared up along the Russian border in the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In August 2008, tensions in the region of South Ossetia culminated in a brief war between Russia and Georgia. Russia invaded and occupied the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia continues to occupy these Georgian regions, and the central government in Tbilisi does not have effective control over these areas. The United States supports Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and does not recognize the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia as independent. Tensions still exist both inside the occupied territories and near the administrative boundary lines, but other parts of Georgia, including Tbilisi, are not directly affected.
Transit and logistics are priority sectors as Georgia seeks to benefit from increased East -West trade through the country. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad has boosted Georgia’s transit prospects and the government has looked for ways to enhance trade. Georgia has long aimed to capitalize on its strategic location on the Black Sea by becoming an East-West transit and trade corridor for goods and energy. The expanding Central Asian market has driven recent increases in cargo through this “Middle Corridor,” as the northern route through Russia is now considered riskier. In February, the Georgian government announced plans to open a new tender for the development of a deep sea Anaklia Black Sea Port (which was previously canceled by the government in 2020).
The private sector continues to invest in port and logistics infrastructure to attract cargo. Logistics and port management companies in Poti and Batumi have started to develop and expand the Batumi and Poti Ports. In 2020, the owner of Georgia’s largest port, Poti Port on the Black Sea, announced its plans to create a deep-water port. In 2021, logistics companies completed two new terminal projects in Batumi and Poti ports.
To access the ICS, visit the U.S. Department of State Investment Climate Statements website.