Georgian external debt down 3.6% in 2024

TBILISI. Jan 14 (Interfax) - Georgia's state external debt stood at $8.589 billion at the end of December 2024 compared to $8.908 billion at the end of 2023, according to materials published on the Finance Ministry's website.

The debt thus fell 3.6% in 2024. It fell 4.9% in Q4 after growing 3.8% in Q3 and falling 2.3% in H1.

Total debt included $8.24 billion government debt, down 3.2% over the year due to a 4.7% fall in Q4, and $351.5 million National Bank debt to the International Monetary Fund, down 12.5%.

Multilateral debt fell 2.2% over the year to $6.26 billion and 4.3% in Q4, the biggest creditors being the Asian Development Bank with $2.27 billion, down 0.5%, the European Investment Bank with $1.08 billion, down 5.7%, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development with $1.64 billion, up 7.4%, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with $214.3 million, down 9.9%.

Bilateral debt fell 8.1% over the year to $1.48 billion and 8.1% in Q4, the biggest creditors being France with $766.1 million, down 2.5%, Germany - $557.7 million, down 11.1%, and Japan - $117.8 million, down 15.1%. Georgia's debt to Russia almost halved since the beginning of the year to $7.87 million.

Debt on Eurobonds was unchanged at $500 million.

A total of 59% of Georgia's external government debt was denominated in euros at the end of 2024, according to the Finance Ministry. The euro exchange rate fell against the U.S. dollar 5.6% over the year.

Georgia's external debt rose 6.7% in 2023, 1.7% in 2022 and 8.9% in 2021.

It was previously reported that Germany refused to provide government-level credit support to Georgia for political reasons in December.