Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

The International Monetary Fund forecasts a slight slowdown in Georgia's GDP growth in 2016, reads the IMF World Economic Outlook published on April 12.

The report was developed for presentation at the IMF and the World Bank Group Spring Meeting scheduled for April 14-19 in Washington.

Georgia's GDP growth is forecasted to reach 2.5 percent in 2016 and 4.5 percent in 2017. This figure stood at 2.8 percent in 2015.

Consumer prices in Georgia will grow by 4.3 percent in 2016 and by 4.5 percent in 2017, as compared to 4 percent in 2015, according to the IMF forecast.

The current account deficit will drop to 10.3 percent of GDP in 2016 and to 9.1 percent of GDP in 2017, as compared to 11.6 percent of GDP in 2015.

However, the forecasts of the international financial institution on Armenia are sad. The IMF has downgraded the forecast of economic growth of Armenia for 2016 from 2.2 percent to 1.9 percent.

In its previous report published in October 2015, IMF predicted Armenia's GDP growth for 2016 at 2.2 percent.

Furthermore, IMF expects the unemployment rate of Armenia to increase from 17.7 percent in 2015 to 18.2 percent in 2016 and to 18.3 percent in 2017.

In 2016, the IMF expects the economies of the CIS countries to slow down by 1.1 percent and to gradually grow by 1.3 percent in 2017 and by 2.4 percent in 2021.

"The forecast of economic growth in the CIS countries will remain weak, which is due to the recession in Russia, as well as low oil prices. Steady decline in oil prices, economic slowdown in Russia, as well as slowing down and rebalancing of the Chinese economy constrain economic growth in the Central Asia and the Caucasus countries, putting pressure on exports, remittances and investments," the report said.

The IMF experts believe that in 2016, the average inflation forecast for the CIS countries [except Russia] will stand at 11.9 percent.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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