The foreign income of Georgia's IT sector has increased to a historical maximum. According to the NBG's statistics, in 9M2023, the IT sector of Georgia received an income of USD 608 million, which was 283 million or 87% more compared to the same period of 2022.
The increase in the income of the IT sector is primarily related to the migration effect, during which thousands of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian specialists moved to live in Georgia temporarily, therefore, their activities are currently considered as IT services provided from Georgia.
If at the end of 2021, 30.6 thousand people were employed in the information and communication sector, it increased to 39 thousand in 2022, and as of the third quarter of 2023, it exceeded 45.5 thousand. Similarly, the average wages have also increased, if the salary in this sector was 2 thousand GEL in 2021, it increased to 3.8 thousand GEL in 2022, and in the third quarter of 2023 it reached 4.1 thousand.
However, the quarterly rates show a slowdown in the growth rate. The fact is that IT sector revenues were the largest in the first quarter of 2023 and stood at USD 231 million, which fell to USD 198 million in 2Q, and USD 178 million in 3Q, which is consistent with a gradual decline of migration, but overall the size and revenues of the sector is on a record scale.