Finance
Georgia's FDI Rises 19.3% to $1.9 Billion With Azerbaijan Second-Largest Source
August 18, 2026
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Foreign direct investment in Georgia climbed to $1.9 billion in 2025, an increase of 19.3% on the previous year, according to figures released by the national statistics service Geostat and reported this week by regional media.
The United Kingdom was the largest single source of capital, investing $426.6 million. Azerbaijan ranked second, while Türkiye placed third with $202.4 million. Together, the three countries accounted for 44.4% of all foreign direct investment flowing into Georgia last year — a concentration that, applying Geostat's published shares, implies roughly $215 million in Azerbaijani investment.
Azerbaijan's rise up the investor table reflects deepening commercial integration between the two neighbours. Azerbaijani capital has long anchored Georgia's energy transit economy through SOCAR's fuel distribution network and stakes in pipeline infrastructure, and the two governments signed intergovernmental agreements this year covering natural gas supplies, electricity trade and transit arrangements, alongside protocols confirming completion of modernisation works on the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway.
The FDI reading lands against a strong macroeconomic backdrop. Georgia's economy grew 8.6% in June, with average growth for the first six months of 2026 reaching 7.9%, well ahead of the International Monetary Fund's initial forecast. The EBRD has raised its full-year growth forecast for Georgia to 6%, citing large investment projects in real estate, transport and renewable energy as potential accelerants.
Still, economists note that net FDI inflows remained subdued at 3.6% of GDP in 2025, a reminder that headline growth has been driven more by domestic credit and services exports than by foreign capital formation. Analysts at the EBRD and World Bank have flagged that sustaining Georgia's expansion will require converting announced projects — including the Anaklia deep-water port, where a new phase of dredging works has begun — into completed infrastructure.
For Baku, the numbers underline a strategic shift: Azerbaijani outbound investment is increasingly targeting logistics, energy and manufacturing assets along the Middle Corridor, with Georgia the natural first stop. Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov's ministry has framed recent agreements with Tbilisi as part of a coordinated regional connectivity agenda spanning electricity exports to Europe and the proposed Black Sea submarine cable, which the European Union has included on its list of Projects of Common Interest.
