Forbes: Russians registered most businesses in Georgia in 2023

Forbes Russian language service writes that last year Georgia became the leader among the countries where Russian citizens started businesses. According to the analytical company Finion, from January to December 2023 Russian citizens registered 13 thousand legal entities in Georgia.

After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 16 thousand entrepreneurs from Russia were registered in Georgia. For comparison, from January 1995 to February 2022, Russians established only 7788 companies in Georgia.

The second place on the list of countries favored by Russian entrepreneurs is occupied by Kazakhstan, where Russian citizens have established 6100 companies, and third place is shared by Armenia and Montenegro – in these countries Russians have registered 3400 legal entities each. In Serbia, 3,000 companies were created by Russian citizens.

“There are several reasons for such a mass opening of companies in Georgia.

In addition to purely statistical reasons, i.e. the active inflow of Russian citizens to the country, this is facilitated by favorable conditions for business registration and tax system. An entrepreneur can pay only 1% income tax, and the owner of an LLC may not pay VAT until he reaches a turnover of 100 thousand GEL [about $37 thousand].

In addition, Russians and Belarusians can legally open bank accounts in Georgia, including for business activities,” Finion director Vyacheslav Kartamyshev explains.

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According to statistics published by the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of Russian migrants in Georgia is decreasing. In 2023, they entered Georgia 1,856,237 times and left the country 1,887,223 times. The difference is almost 31,000.

A study published on September 29, 2023 by Transparency International-Georgia [TI] reports that Georgia’s economic dependence on Russia continued to grow in 2023.

According to TI, Georgia received $2 billion in revenue from Russia in January-June 2023 through remittances, tourism and exports of goods, which is 1.6 times the figure for January-June 2022.

Also, according to the TI report, Georgia received $108 million in direct investment from Russia in 2022, a record annual total. In January-June 2023, the volume of investments from Russia increased 7 times and amounted to 56 million dollars, 27 million of which were invested in the sphere of financial and insurance activities, and 18 million – in the sphere of real estate.