Weekly market watch

Stock and bond market

Last week the Galt & Taggart Index (GTI) fell by 9.04 percent to 561.8 in GEL terms on a trading volume of GEL 95 358. Four blue chip stocks traded on the Georgian Stock Exchange: Bank of Georgia (GEB, Buy, down 10.47 percent), Galt & Taggart Capital (GTC, Buy, unchanged), United Telecom of Georgia (UTC, Hold, unchanged) and People’s Bank of Georgia (AMB, up 33.33 percent). Blue chip stocks accounted for 100 percent of the total weekly trading volume.

Last week Bank of Georgia’s global depositary receipts (GDRs) fell by 3.3 percent on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BGEO) to US$ 18. Total of 45 998 GDRs traded on LSE last week.



External debt

The total amount of Georgia’s foreign debt and state-guaranteed loans was USD 2.38 billion as of June 30, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The key lenders to Georgia are: Austria (USD 1.77 million), Azerbaijan (USD 14.43 million), Turkmenistan (USD 1.61 million), Turkey (USD 44.7 million), Iran (USD 11.32 million), Russia (USD 119.99 million), USA (USD 39.84 million), Armenia (USD 17.42 million), Uzbekistan (USD 378 000), Ukraine (USD 345 000), Kazakhstan (USD 27 77 million), Germany (USD 182.4 million), Japan (USD 50.95 million), Kuwait (USD 14.12 million) and the Netherlands (USD 9.38 million)

Georgia also owes USD 1.32 billion to international financial institutions and organizations. The main creditors here are the International Monetary Fund for USD 240.86 million (with the National Bank of Georgia being the main beneficiary of these funds used mainly for beefing up country’s foreign currency reserves); the World Bank at USD 951.61 million; the International Fund of Agricultural Development, USD 12.7 million and the European Union, USD 90.53 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is also among Georgia’s largest creditors with state-guaranteed loans totaling USD 7.9 million.



State budget

According to the latest data from the Georgian Treasury, state budget expenditures in January–June 2008 came to GEL 3.69 billion.

Funding of labor, public health care services and social welfare programs amounted to GEL 629.4 million, including GEL 366.9 million spent on pensions, compensations and state scholarships.

Spending on education rose to GEL 178.2 million, including GEL 124.4 million for funding of voucher programs and GEL 11.9 million for building and repairing schools.

The Justice Ministry spent GEL 36.4 million on prison repair and upkeep.



FX Market Last week the GEL/USD exchange rate rose by 0.94 percent. The weekly turnover on the Tbilisi Interbank Currency Exchange (TICEX) was USD 24.8 million, the same as in the previous week. The National Bank of Georgia’s net sales were USD 18 million.