The economy grew 7.8% in the first half — and construction subtracted from it

Services accounted for roughly 96% of real growth in the first six months, but only about 66% of the increase in total output — which is another way of saying the growth was concentrated in activities that add a lot of value on a small base. Information and communication was the single biggest contributor at close to 29% of real GDP growth at basic prices. Trade and transport together added about 1.2 percentage points. Mining and manufacturing moved a third of the extra output but under 6% of real growth. For anyone weighing a purchase here, that mix matters: an economy pulled along by software salaries and logistics behaves differently from one pulled along by building sites.

Construction subtracted from growth in the first half rather than adding to it. That is a statement about the change in activity, not about the level: a sector can still be large, busy and profitable while shrinking slightly against an unusually strong comparison period. What it does tell a developer is that the easy tailwind of 2024 and 2025 is no longer in the numbers, and that the sector is now growing more slowly than the economy around it. If you are pricing a project on the assumption that construction rides the national growth rate, the half-year data says otherwise.

The contribution of real-estate-related activities to growth fell by more than half compared with the first half of 2025. For an owner deciding between selling and renting, that is a signal about momentum rather than about price: transactions and related services are adding less to the economy than they were, which usually shows up first as longer time on market and more negotiation, and only later as a change in asking prices. It argues for patience on the sell side and for realistic void assumptions on the rent side.

TBC Capital estimates the trade deficit narrowed to 26.4% of GDP in January to August and expects the current account balance excluding reinvested earnings to strengthen in the third quarter. It also flags that weakness in vehicle re-exports may continue — relevant because car re-export is one of the larger lines in Georgia's trade and employs a long tail of logistics and warehousing around Poti, Batumi and Rustavi. A narrower deficit is good for the lari, and a stable lari is what keeps dollar-denominated rents and lari-denominated costs from drifting apart on an owner.