Investor interest in the Georgian economy remains strong - Finance Minister

Ameriabank’s standalone profit for the same period was GEL 113.9 million, up 35.2% year-on-year.This difference is due to the fact that Ameriabank’s standalone figures exclude certain adjustments and group expenses that AFS’s consolidated financial statements include.According to Ameriabank’s standalone results, the bank’s operating income increased by 30.3% (y.y.) to GEL 248.2 million, mainly driven by a 37.9% increase in net interest income. Return On Equity (ROE) was 24.7%, compared to AFS of 21.1% (29.4% 4Q24 / AFS – 25.3%).Quarterly, operating income decreased by 8.6% — mainly due to one-off, high commission income and foreign exchange gains in the previous quarter. However, net interest income increased again by 5.8%.Operating expenses decreased by 6% - mainly due to lower personnel and administrative expenses, which were related to seasonal expenses in the previous quarter.The loan portfolio remained stable - the credit risk ratio was only 0.2%.

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Lion Finance Group (BGEO LN) shares closed at GBP 63.65/share (- 2.60% w/w and +17.54% m/m). More than 445k shares traded in the range of GBP 60.35 - 67.95/share. Average daily traded volume was 70k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of BGEO shares traded was at 1.00% of its capitalization.TBC Bank Group (TBCG LN) closed the week at GBP 45.40/share (+3.53% w/w and +5.46% m/m). More than 367k shares changed hands in the range of GBP 44.00 - 46.85/share. Average daily traded volume was 104k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of TBCG shares traded was at 0.65% of its capitalization.Georgia Capital (CGEO LN) shares closed at GBP 18.74/share (-2.19% w/w and +35.01% m/m). More than 420k shares traded in the range of GBP 18.00 - 19.58/share. Average daily traded volume was 124k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of CGEO shares traded was at 1.06% of its capitalization. 

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In the I quarter of 2025, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the ports and terminals of Georgia received 2.6 times more specialized carriers, 32.2 percent more - general cargo carriers, 12.8 percent less container ships, and 11.5 percent less  -liquid bulk.In the I quarter of 2025, 18.2 percent of the ships arriving at the ports and terminals of Georgia sailed under the flag of Panama, 16.6 percent - under the flag of Turkey, 10.2 percent - under the flag of Malta, 8.4 percent - under the flag of Liberia, and the rest 46.6 percent were distributed among other countries.In the I quarter of 2025, Georgian seaports served 2.1 thousand passengers, which is 16.5% more compared to the corresponding figure of the previous year. Note, the share of passengers departed was higher than the share of passengers entered and stood at 56.8%.In the I quarter of 2025, ports and terminals of Georgia processed 3.7 million tons of cargo, 9.2 percent more compared to the corresponding figure of the previous year. 52.5 percent of freight carried was general cargo, 28.8 percent was liquid bulk, and 18.7 percent - dry bulk.

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In the I quarter of 2025, the share of incoming freight represented 74.1 percent of the railwaytransported freights, while the share of outgoing freight was 25.9 percent.In the I quarter of 2025, the sender country of 51 percent of total incoming rail freight was Russian Federation, 23.2 percent was sent by Azerbaijan. The share of other countries sending cargo was less than ten percent each (25.8 percent combined).In the I quarter of 2025, Russian Federation was the final destination for 12.8 percent of total outgoing freight, for 9.1 percent - Armenia, for 8.0 percent - Kazakhstan.The share of other individual receiving countries was relatively small (70.1 percent combined). The breakdown of the total transit freight1 by the final destination country was as follows: the Turkey - 13.2 percent, Netherlands - 9.7 percent, Ukraine - 5.3 percent, China - 3.8 percent, Romania - 3.3 percent, Italy - 2.5 percent, USA - 0.8 percent, and elsewhere was for the rest. In the same period, Brazil was the sender country of 3.3 percent of the total transit freight, Turkey - 2.3 percent, Greece - 2.2 percent, and other countries sent the rest. In the reporting period, 34.5 percent of the total freight were coke and refined petroleum products, 20.6 percent were chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers; rubber and plastic products, and 17.8 percent were metal ores and other mining and quarrying products.The distribution by type of goods was different in case of freights transported domestically in the I quarter of 2025, as the share of metal ores and other mining and quarrying products equaled 55.3 percent of total, and the share of coke and refined petroleum products amounted to 27.1 percent; while the share of transport equipment amounted to 7.4 percent.As for the freights transported internationally, in the reporting period, incoming goods were mainly coke and refined petroleum products (49.3 percent), other nonmetallic mineral products (18.5 percent), basic metals (7.1 percent), metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (6.6 percent), coal and lignite; crude petroleum and natural gas (5.8 percent), products of agriculture, hunting, and forestry (5.1 percent) and chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (3.2 percent); while outgoing goods were mainly chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (42.1 percent), food products, beverages and tobacco (29.1 percent), metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (11.4 percent) and basic metals (6.7 percent).In the I quarter of 2025, three type of goods, namely coke and refined petroleum products (33.8 percent), chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (27.8 percent), and metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (18.2 percent) constituted for 79.8 percent of the total volume of transit freight.

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In the I quarter of 2025, scheduled flights carried 95.7 percent of passengers in airports of Georgia.In the I quarter of 2025, the number of passenger flights from Georgian airports increased by 1.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to 6.0 thousands.

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As of the document, in the I quarter of 2025, 0.9 thousand freight flights were carried out in the airports of Georgia and that is 3 times more than the same figure of 2024.In the I quarter 2025, airway companies of Georgia transported 120.9 thousand passengers and 37.2 thousand tons of freight. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year the number of passengers increased by 7.2 percent and freight decreased by 33.3%. 

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In 1Q25, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the number of hired employees increased by 5.3 thousand persons (0.6%) and reached 958.3 thousand, while the number of self-employed decreased by 13.5 thousand (3%) and equaled to 434.7 thousand. In the same period, the number of unemployed increased by 10.8 thousand (4.7%) and equaled 239.4 thousand.In the I quarter of 2025, the labour force participation rate (share of the labour force in the total population aged 15 and older) decreased by 0.2 percentage points compared to the corresponding period of the previous year and became 54.8%, while the employment rate decreased 0.5 percentage points and amounted to 46.8 %. The labour force participation rate decreased in urban and rural settlements, by 0.2 percentage points compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The employment rate decreased by 1 percentage points in urban settlements, in rural settlements increased by 0.1 percentage points and equaled 47.8 and 45.3%, respectively.In the I quarter of 2025, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the share of hired employed in the total number of employed increased by 0.8 percentage points and equaled 68.8%.Traditionally, the unemployment rate is higher for men than for women. In the I quarter of 2025, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, this rate increased by 0.5 percentage points for women and by 0.7 percentage points for men, equaling 11.6 and 17%, respectively.The labour force participation rate is higher for men than for women. In the I quarter of 2025, the indicator for women was 44.4% and for men was 66.5%. The labour force participation rate for women decreased by 0.6 percentage points,for men it remained unchanged, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.In the I quarter of 2025, the employment rate for women decreased by 0.8, while for men – by 0.4 percentage points, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

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According to her, the securities market, as an alternative financing platform, provides greater diversification for access to finance.The market grew by 29.7% annually, to 5.5 billion GEL. The balance of GEL-denominated bonds issued by international financial institutions increased by almost 40% last year.The annual growth rate of the corporate bond market (including both public and private placements) exceeded 18%. At the end of 2024, its size reached 2.244 billion GEL. On average, the pace has reached 24.7% in the last 5 years.Natia Turnava also spoke about the trends in the mutual fund market. The volume of fund assets has increased from 129 million GEL to 204 million GEL.The total value of securities in the securities accounts of brokerage companies' clients has also increased. At the end of 2024, it was 12.1 billion GEL (+ 59%Y.Y).The discussion also touched on the renewal of the pension fund's governance system."The supervisory mandate of the National Bank has increased. It now includes supervision of both the investment and administrative/operational and other functions of the pension fund," said Natia Turnava.

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