Economy - overview Georgia's main economic activities include the cultivation of agricultural products such as citrus fruits, tea, hazelnuts, and grapes; mining of manganese and copper; and output of a small industrial sector producing alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, metals, machinery, and chemicals. The country imports the bulk of its energy needs, including natural gas and oil products. Its only sizable internal energy resource is hydropower. Despite the severe damage the economy has suffered due to civil strife, Georgia, with the help of the IMF and World Bank, has made substantial economic gains since 1995, achieving positive GDP growth and curtailing inflation. However, the Georgian government suffers from limited resources due to a chronic failure to collect tax revenues. Georgia also suffers from energy shortages; it privatized the T'bilisi distribution network in 1998, but collection rates are low, making the venture unprofitable. The country is pinning its hopes for long-term recovery on its role as a transit state for pipelines and trade. The start of construction on the Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in summer 2002 will bring much-needed investment and job opportunities to the country.

GDP purchasing power parity - $15.5 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 8.4% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $3,100 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 25%
industry: 20%
services: 55% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line 54% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 27.9% (1996)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 37.1 (1996)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 4.6% (2001 est.)

Labor force 2.1 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation industry 20%, agriculture 40%, services 40% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate 17% (2001 est.)

Budget
revenues: $499 million
expenditures: $554 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries steel, aircraft, machine tools, electrical appliances, mining (manganese), chemicals, wood products, wine

Industrial production growth rate 3% (2000)

Electricity - production 7.404 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 20.99%
hydro: 79.01%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 7.886 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 200 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 1.2 billion kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products citrus, grapes, tea, vegetables, potatoes; livestock

Exports $450 million (2001 est.)

Exports - commodities scrap metal, machinery, chemicals; fuel reexports; citrus fruits, tea, wine, other agricultural products

Exports - partners Turkey 22.3%, Russia 20.6%, Germany 10.4%, Azerbaijan 6.3%, Armenia 4%, US 2.2% (2000)

Imports $723 million (2001 est.)

Imports - commodities fuels, machinery and parts, transport equipment, grain and other foods, pharmaceuticals

Imports - partners EU 23.8%, Turkey 16%, Russia 12.8%, US 10.1%, Germany 7.9% (2000)

Debt - external $1.7 billion (2001)

Economic aid - recipient $212.7 million (1995)

Currency lari (GEL)

Currency code GEL

Exchange rates lari per US dollar - 2.1888 (January 2002), 2.0730 (2001), 1.9762 (2000), 2.0245 (1999), 1.3898 (1998), 1.2975 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Georgia on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Georgia Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Georgia Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.