Roman Gotsiridze: “Thirty-eight percent of Georgia’s exports come from car re-exports whilst the growth in imports is mainly driven by paintings and sculptures.”
Verdict: FactCheck concludes that Roman Gotsiridze’s statement is TRUE.
Georgia’s exports rose by USD 400 million in January-June 2025, reaching USD 3.2 billion as compared to the same period last year. Passenger cars accounted for 37.6% of total exports – over USD 1.2 billion. Export growth without cars would have been only USD 100 million. The main destinations for car exports were Kyrgyzstan (first), Kazakhstan (second) and Azerbaijan (third) whilst the combined share of other countries was under 9%. Notably, only four cars were exported to Russia in this period.
Imports rose by USD 1 billion, totalling USD 8.7 billion. Imports of paintings and sculptures in January alone hit USD 514 million, a one-off spike – for comparison, total imports of the same items from 2013 to 2023 amounted to just USD 9.2 million. However, import growth slowed to 0.8% by the second quarter – effectively negligible.
Considering the accurate figures and context, FactCheck concludes that Roman Gotsiridze’s statement is TRUE.
Analysis
Roman Gotsiridze, a member of the 10th Convocation Parliament, shared a video on foreign trade with the caption: “The statistics on foreign trade for the past six months have been published. The largest part of the export growth comes from re-exports. Cars imported from abroad (mainly the United States) and then exported account for 38% of all exports. The main reason for the increase in imports is the customs clearance of art objects imported into Georgia by Ivanishvili years ago – paintings worth USD 400 million and sculptures worth USD 80 million.”
Exports increased by 13.7%, reaching USD 3.2 billion, according to official data for January-June 2025. Passenger cars accounted for 37.6% of total exports – more than USD 1.2 billion. Total exports grew by USD 400 million with USD 300 million of that growth coming from passenger cars alone.
Whilst passenger cars have been a significant component of Georgia’s exports for two decades, their share has never been this high prior to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Graph 1: Exports in January-June (USD Million)
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
The data reflects a sharp surge in passenger car exports starting in 2023. Looking at full-year figures, the share of cars in exports was 16.2% in 2022: 10.5% in the first and second quarters and 21.7% in the third and fourth.
Azerbaijan and Armenia were the primary destinations for Georgian car exports before the Russia-Ukraine war with a smaller share going to Russia. Exports shifted largely to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan following the outbreak of the war.
Cars worth USD 628 million were exported to Kyrgyzstan in January-June 2025 – more than half of total car exports. Kazakhstan ranked second with USD 353 million and Azerbaijan third with USD 129 million. The combined share of all other countries was below 9%.
However, Kazakhstan leads when measured by numbers – with 20.2 thousand cars – followed closely by Kyrgyzstan with 19.7 thousand. Despite Kyrgyzstan’s relatively small economy and low per-capita trade volumes, the average export value per car to the country still reached USD 32,000.
Whilst an increase or decrease in trade turnover with a particular country is generally a natural occurrence, the pact of growth or decline appears abnormal in some cases, often pointing to specific underlying factors. For example, Georgia’s exports to Kazakhstan totalled USD 225 million between 1995 and 2021 yet in 2025 alone, exports reached USD 299 million in the first quarter and USD 383 million in the second quarter.
FactCheck cannot confirm whether or not cars exported from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan are subsequently re-exported to Russia. Whilst the figures and unit values make this assumption plausible, even if true, Georgia is not in violation of sanctions as exports to Kyrgyzstan are permitted. Only 12 cars valued at a total of USD 250,000 have been exported directly to Russia over the past year and a half.
Georgia does not manufacture cars. Its total exports – 49,000 units worth USD 1.2 billion in six months – are entirely re-exports. The surge in car exports has pushed the share of re-exports in total exports to 54.4%.
Georgia mainly imports cars from the United States with imports totalling USD 957 million in January-June. Germany ranks second with USD 262 million and Japan third with USD 175 million.
Total imports rose by 12.4% during the same period – from GEL 7.7 billion to GEL 8.7 billion, as compared to the same period the previous year. More than half of this roughly GEL 1 billion increase was due to one-time factors – particularly, the import of paintings and sculptures.
Imports of these objects from 2013 to 2024 totalled USD 9.2 million (including USD 7.8 million in paintings and USD 1.4 million in sculptures). Imports reached USD 514 million in January 2025 alone – USD 481 million in paintings and USD 33 million in sculptures, 56-fold higher than the entire previous 11-year period.
Roman Gotsiridze cites slightly different figures, estimating paintings at USD 400 million and sculptures at USD 80 million, which does not significantly alter the overall picture – both his numbers and GeoStat’s data value the one-time factor at roughly USD 500 million. He also claims that the exhibits were imported by Bidzina Ivanishvili years ago and only cleared now: FactCheck does not assess this part of this statement, therefore not affecting the verdict.
A notable increase was seen only in March beyond January, mainly due to passenger cars (rising from USD 228 million to USD 316 million).
Imports grew by 26.3% in the first quarter – or 11.7% if paintings and sculptures are excluded. The growth rate slowed to 0.8% in the second quarter which can be regarded as a minimal increase or an effective stagnation.
Graph 2: Imports in January-June (USD Million)
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
Contrary to common belief, an increase in imports is not inherently negative and in many cases it signals rising consumption. In contrast, it can be noteworthy when imports remain stagnant or decline. A drop in imports – unless driven by falling prices or substitution with domestic products – may indicate reduced consumer spending.
Exports rose by USD 400 million in the first half of the year of which USD 300 million came from re-exports of passenger cars. Their share of total exports reached 37.6%. Meanwhile, import growth was largely driven by one-time factors – by the second quarter, the growth rate slowed to a negligible 0.8%. Considering the accurate figures and context, FactCheck concludes that Roman Gotsiridze’s statement is TRUE.
