Georgia has managed to contain economic fallout of the crisis in Ukraine so far but needs to step up efforts to maintain a revival of growth, the International Monetary Fund said.
The IMF expects Georgia's economy to expand by 5 percent this year, in line with the government's forecast, after growth slowed down to 3.3 percent in 2013 from 6.2 percent the year before. Georgia 's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.9 percent in the first nine months of 2014.
"The key policy priority now is to navigate the economy through the difficult external environment. This requires maintaining macro stability, building buffers, and strengthening confidence to facilitate private investment," Azim Sadikov, the IMF resident representative in Georgia, told Reuters.
Sadikov said that a decline in exports to Ukraine, which faces pro-Russian separatist insurrection in eastern territories, had been offset by stronger exports to Europe and Russia.