Finance minister says Georgia will need at least 4 years to decrease external debt to 40% of GDP

Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili says that the country will need four-five years to decrease the country’s external debt to 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. 

PM Irakli Garibashvili stated earlier this month that the Georgian government has plans to decrease the country’s external debt to 51.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) next year.

Georgia’s external debt amounted to 58.66% of GDP in 2020, nearly 29.3 billion GEL, which increased to 60% of GDP this year. 

While in parliament today Khutsishvili claimed that due to the ‘ high economic growth’ in 2021-2022, by the end of 2022, the volume of our economy will reach 65 billion GEL, and GDP per capita will be more than 5,600 USD. 

He also said that the Georgian economy will ‘fully recover’ from the losses caused by the pandemic and that the state economy will be 2.6% higher in 2022 than it was in 2019.