Foreign direct investment in Georgia increased by 5% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016 to USD 1.29 billion, according to preliminary data released by the state statistics office on December 9.

FDI in the third quarter of this year stood at USD 463 million, down by 4% compared to the same period of last year and up by 3.8% compared to the previous quarter of this year.

After increasing by about 33% y/y in the first quarter of 2016 to USD 389 million, FDI increased to USD 446 million in the second quarter, by 3.6% less compared to the same period of last year, according to preliminary data.
 
Like in first two quarters of this year, transport and communications continued to attract most of the FDI in the third quarter of 2016 – USD 140 million.

It was followed by construction sector with USD 69 million; processing industry – USD 62 million; financial sector - USD 51 million; energy – USD 46 million; hotels and restaurants – USD 23 million; real estate – USD 22 million; mining – USD 8 million; agriculture – USD 3 million.

Most of the FDI again came from Azerbaijan in the third quarter of this year – USD 151 million, followed by Turkey – USD 111 million; Luxembourg – USD 52 million; the Czech Republic – USD 28 million; China – USD 26 million; companies registered in the Netherlands – USD 24 million; the U.S. – USD 16 million; Japan – USD 10 million; Panama – USD 9 million; Cyprus – USD 8 million.

Georgia’s foreign direct investment in 2015 stood at USD 1.56 billion, an 11% decline compared to previous year. Final figures for 2016 will be released next August.