Georgia's economy expanded by 4.9 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2017, official data showed on Thursday, up from 2.5 percent in the same period of 2016. Economic growth accelerated thanks to higher exports and remittances from abroad.

In October alone, gross domestic product grew by 5.7 percent after expanding 5 percent in September. In October a year ago, GDP grew by 1.3 percent. The former Soviet republic, through which pipelines carry Caspian oil and gas to Europe, is recovering from a decline in exports and a plunge in the currencies of its main trading partners, which have depressed economic growth in recent years.

Georgia's economy expanded by 2.2 percent last year and the government in Tbilisi expects it to grow 4.5 percent this year, helped by private-sector development and government spending on infrastructure projects. The International Monetary Funds said in October that it now expected Georgia's economy to grow 4.3 percent this year, up from a previous forecast of 3.5 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2017