The decrease of Georgia’s IT Sector Foreign Income is $133 Million in Nine Months

The National Bank of Georgia reports that the foreign income of Georgia’s IT sector decreased by 22% in January- September 2024 compared to the same period last year.
A peak for the industry was reached in 2023 ($784 million). The migration effect achieved its peak in 2022-2023, because geopolitical unrest made thousands of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian IT specialists temporarily relocate to Georgia. The sector’s foreign income got a large contribution from their activities, conducted from Georgia, during that period.
30,600 people were employed in the information and communication sector, which includes IT, at the end of 2021. This number increased to 39,000 in 2022 and attained 48,000 by 2024, but the sector’s overall income has shown a decline in spite of the increase in the number of employees. The return migration of Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian IT professionals who had temporarily boosted the industry’s earnings during their stay in Georgia caused this decline.
Temporary external factors such as migration influenced the decline and underscored the challenges of sustaining rapid growth in the IT sector. The sector may be stabilized and expanded by enhancing the domestic IT workforce and fostering long-term growth strategies.

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