According to the preliminary data of the statistics office, the annual decline of direct foreign investments amounted to 27.1% in the first quarter of 2018. In the second quarter FDI increased by 9.4%. In total, in the first half of 2018, foreign direct investments made in Georgia decreased by 9.8% annually and amounted to 676.2 million US dollars. Such a sharp decline in investments in the first quarter is mainly related to the reduction of debt liabilities. However, investments in the equity have also decreased significantly, which Statistics Office explained as a result of transferring ownership of several companies from non-residents to the residents of Georgia. Overall, in the first half of this year, investment in equity was down by almost 32.5%, and reinvestment was up by 22.5%.
In the first half of this year, investments from Azerbaijan, Turkey and the UAE was sufficiently down. At the same time, investment from the Czech Republic and the UK increased significantly.