Russia's Share in Georgia's Total Trade Turnover Increased to 12.4% - Highest in Last 16 Years

According to the document, Georgia's economic dependence on Russia grew in 2022, which continued in the first half of 2023.

• In 6 months of 2023, 6,539 Russian companies were registered in Georgia, and 21,326 companies in total were registered after the start of the war in Ukraine. From March 2022, 3 times more Russian companies were registered in Georgia than in 1995-2021;
• 96% of the companies registered in 2022-2023 are individual enterprises. This indicates that a part of Russian citizens moved to Georgia to live and do business long-term;
• In January-June 2023, 578,000 visitors came from Russia, which is 2 times more than the rate of January-June 2022, but it is still 16% below the pre-pandemic rate of 2019. The share of Russian visitors in the total number of visitors to Georgia is 20%. Until 2022, the share of Russian citizens never reached 20%;
• Some of the Russian visitors are actually immigrants and settled in Georgia long term. According to Geostat, 62,300 Russian citizens stayed in Georgia in 2022.
• The settlement of Russian migrants in Georgia led to a significant increase in remittances. In 6 months of 2023, remittances from Russia to Georgia increased by 50% and amounted to 1 billion dollars;
• In January-June 2023, Georgian exports to Russia increased by 34% and amounted to 344 million dollars. The share of Russia in the total exports of Georgia was 3%, which is 1.3 percentage points higher than the indicator of January-June 2022. The increase in exports was mainly caused by the increase in the re-export of automobiles;
• Georgian wine exports are distinguished by their high dependence on the Russian market. In the 6 months of 2023, wine exports to Russia increased by 41% and amounted to 82 million dollars. The Russian market holds 65% of Georgian wine exports, which is the highest figure since 2005;
• In January-June 2023, imports from Russia increased by 31% and amounted to 927 million dollars. The share of imports from Russia in the total imports of Georgia is 9%. Russia's share in imports is at its highest since 2007;
• In 6 months of 2023, the import of oil products from Russia increased the most - by 75%. If compared to the period before the Russia-Ukraine war, the import of oil products has increased 5 times;
• In January-June 2023, gas imports from Russia increased by 119%, and the share of Russian gas in Georgia's domestic consumption amounted to 24%, while it was 6% in January-June 2022. The share of Russian electricity in Georgia's domestic consumption was 0.1% because in January-June, Georgia consumed almost no imported electricity;
• In 2022, foreign direct investment of 108 million dollars came from Russia, which is a record annual figure. In January-June 2023, the volume of investments from Russia increased 7 times and amounted to 56 million dollars, of which 27 million dollars were invested in the field of financial and insurance activities, and 18 million dollars were made in the field of real estate.
• In the first half of 2023, compared to the same period of 2022, Georgia's trade turnover with Russia increased by 32% and amounted to 1.3 billion US dollars. The share of Russia in the total trade turnover of Georgia has increased to 12.4%, which is the highest in the last 16 years.

According to Transparency International Georgia, Georgia's economic dependence on Russia is dangerous, seeing as after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia repeatedly used economic leverage against Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and other countries. For example, in 2006, Russia stopped supplying natural gas and electricity to Georgia, then banned the export of products from Georgia to Russia, and at the end of the same year began to deport Georgian citizens.

The organization believes that ‘’the goal of the Georgian government should be to minimize economic dependence on Russia. In order to reduce trade with Russia, the government of Georgia should more actively and quickly start working on signing free trade agreements with all strategic partners with whom we do not have such an agreement yet.’’