The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday said high foreign direct investment and lower unemployment had supported “strong growth” for the Georgian economy, and raised its growth forecast for 2023 from the earlier 4.5 to six percent, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

The growth will moderate slightly to five percent in 2024, in light of an expected return to growth potential and possible fallout from slowing global expansion”, the ADB said.

The Asian Development Outlook for September, an update to ADB’s flagship economic publication, said Georgia had experienced strong growth in construction at 15.1 percent and the service sector at 10.2 percent.

The Bank projected inflation to decline to three percent this year from an earlier forecast of six percent, following a “relatively stable” Georgian national currency and “strong” macroeconomic policies.

The latest GDP data published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia said the domestic economy grew 7.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2023 while the nominal gross domestic product amounted to GEL19.28 billion ($7.28bln).

The Georgian Government has also raised its growth forecast for 2023 from the earlier five to 6.5 percent and adjusted the state budget with a GEL 500 million ($188mln) increase based on the increased growth rate.