BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18.
Georgia’s exports grew 19.6% year-on-year to $6.15 billion in
January-September 2026, outpacing the 5.3% growth in imports, which
reached $14.38 billion, according to the National Statistics Office
of Georgia (Geostat).
According to Trend’s
calculations, the gap between export and import growth rates stood
at 14.3 percentage points over the nine-month period — exports
expanded at roughly 3.7 times the pace of imports. The stronger
export performance also lifted Georgia’s export coverage ratio
(exports as a share of imports) to 42.8% in January-September 2026,
from 37.7% in the same period of 2025. This means export earnings
covered a larger share of the import bill than a year earlier.
Total foreign trade turnover reached $20.5 billion, up 9.2%, while
the trade deficit stood at $8.23 billion.
Exports reached $793.9 million in July 2026 — the
highest monthly figure in the 2023-2026 period covered by Geostat’s
release. September exports set a record for that month at $731.2
million.
More detailed figures for January-August 2026 show a
shift in export structure. Domestic exports (excluding re-exports)
rose 63.5% and accounted for more than 60% of total exports. While
motor cars remained the single largest export category, their
volume declined year-on-year. Shipments of petroleum products and
precious metal ores and concentrates increased sharply and became
the second- and third-largest commodity groups.
Trend’s calculations indicate that, with domestic
exports up 63.5% and their share above 60%, re-exports likely fell
by roughly 15% or more in the period, assuming total export growth
in January-August was close to the nine-month figure of 19.6%.
Kyrgyzstan, China and Russia were the leading export
destinations in January-August. Türkiye remained the top source of
imports, followed by Russia and the United States.
The nine-month results continue the trend of exports
growing faster than imports that was already visible earlier in
2026.
