Tourism revenues estimated at US$ 220mn in Dec-24 - Tourism revenues decreased by 10.1% y/y to US$ 220mn in Dec-24, according to our estimates. Overall, in 2024 tourism revenues reached US$ 4.4bn (+5.5% y/y) by our estimates.
International reserves at US$ 4.4bn in Dec-24 - Gross international reserves decreased by 11.2% y/y to US$ 4.4bn in Dec-24, according to NBG. On a monthly basis, the reserves were up by 7.8% (+US$ 323.7mn), reflecting mainly an increase in the upper limit on FX minimum reserve requirements for banks by 5 percentage points to 25%. Other changes in reserves were attributed to the government and/or banking sector FX operations, and likely also to NBG’s FX trading via BMatch platform (information will be available on 27 January). Notably, as of Dec-24, monetary gold accounted for 13.5% of total international reserves.
Ministry of Finance T-bills/T-notes: 3.0-year GEL 40.0mn (US$ 14.2mn) Benchmark bonds were sold at the auction held at NBG on January 6, 2025. Total demand was 1.6x higher and the weighted average yield was fixed at 8.555%, up by 0.190ppts from previous auction held in Dec-24.
6-month GEL 50.0mn (US$ 17.8mn) T-bills were sold at the auction held at NBG on January 6, 2025. Total demand was 2.2x higher and the weighted average yield was fixed at 7.583%, up by 0.023ppts from previous auction held in Dec-24.
The nearest treasury security auction is scheduled for January 14, 2025, where GEL 20.0mn nominal value 1-year T-bills and GEL 30.0mn nominal value 11.7-year Benchmark Bonds will be sold.
