Georgia's Economy Grows 6% in September and 7.4% in Nine Months

Georgia's real gross domestic product grew by an estimated 6.0 per cent in September 2026 compared with a year earlier, and average real growth for January to September reached 7.4 per cent, the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) said on 30 October.

In its rapid estimates of economic growth for September 2026, Geostat named construction, information and communication, mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail trade including the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and financial and insurance activities as the activities that contributed significantly to growth. Declines were registered in manufacturing and in administrative and support service activities.

The office builds its monthly rapid estimates from administrative data on the turnover of VAT payers, together with fiscal and monetary statistics. For sectors without preliminary monthly data, such as agriculture and the non-observed economy, the estimates rely on earlier periods, and Geostat notes that figures for previous months may be revised as VAT data are updated.

Business turnover and new companies

The same release carries the monthly business indicators behind the estimate. The turnover of VAT payers used in the rapid estimates was GEL 17,603.4 million in September, up 13.5 per cent year on year, according to Ministry of Finance data published by Geostat. The number of newly registered enterprises was 8,388 in September, 32.1 per cent more than a year earlier.

Prices rose faster than the National Bank of Georgia's target. The consumer price index stood at 105.6 against September 2025, an annual rate of 5.6 per cent, and rose 0.4 per cent on the month. Producer prices for industrial products were 4.6 per cent higher than a year earlier and unchanged on August.

Foreign trade kept growing. Exports of goods reached USD 6,153.2 million in January to September, up 19.6 per cent, while imports rose 5.3 per cent to USD 14,382.0 million. External merchandise trade turnover was USD 20,535.3 million, an increase of 9.2 per cent.

Slower than the first half, ahead of forecasts

September's 6.0 per cent is below the pace of the first half. CBJ reported in August that Georgia's economy grew 7.9 per cent in the first half of 2026. Civil Georgia, reporting the September release, noted that Geostat's data put second-quarter growth at 6.9 per cent and nominal GDP for that quarter at GEL 28.147 billion, and that the International Monetary Fund raised its 2026 growth forecast for Georgia from 6.5 per cent to 7.2 per cent in October while projecting 5.7 per cent for 2027.

The nine-month average of 7.4 per cent is above the main lenders' full-year projections. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in its Regional Economic Prospects of September 2026, forecast growth of 6.5 per cent in 2026 and 5.5 per cent in 2027, half a percentage point higher for both years than its previous projections. The bank said growth in the first half was broad based, with information and communications services, manufacturing, transport and storage and financial and insurance activities among the main contributors.

The EBRD also reported that gross international reserves rose to a record USD 8.1 billion at the end of August and that the current account deficit, on a rolling four-quarter basis, narrowed to 1.9 per cent of GDP in the first quarter of 2026 from 6.0 per cent a year earlier. It listed the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on tourism revenues and energy costs among the downside risks. In October, the World Bank also lifted its forecast for Georgia to 7 per cent.

What it means for business

For companies and lenders in the region, the September numbers show an economy that is still expanding quickly but with a different mix. Construction, ICT, mining and finance carried the month, while manufacturing output fell.

Inflation of 5.6 per cent remains above the central bank's 3 per cent target, the EBRD noted. The 19.6 per cent rise in exports and the 32.1 per cent jump in new company registrations show a growing number of businesses, a market that banks, insurers and suppliers from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Türkiye sell into.

The rapid estimate is preliminary. Because Geostat updates the VAT turnover data behind it each month, the September figure and the earlier monthly rates can still be adjusted, and quarterly national accounts will give the firmer reading of the third quarter.