Baku, September 26, 2025
For the first time in Azerbaijan’s modern history, money transfers from Georgia into Azerbaijan have exceeded those flowing the other way, economist and Republican Alternative (REAL) Party leader Natig Jafarli wrote on Facebook.
According to him, remittances from Georgia reached $18.1 million in the first half of 2025, up 4 percent compared to last year.
Jafarli, who recently traveled twice to Georgia, described what he called a new reality: growing numbers of Azerbaijanis seeking work or relocating businesses across the border.
“I met laborers from our lowland regions earning about 2,000 manats a month in construction,” he wrote.
“They were satisfied not just with the pay but also with an eight-hour workday, free lunch, free transport, lower taxes, and a five-day work week.”
He also spoke with small business owners from Ganja who said they moved to Tbilisi after repeated obstacles at home. In Georgia, they pay just one percent tax on turnover under 500,000 lari and report no interference from state agencies.
Jafarli contrasted this with Azerbaijan’s declining macroeconomic indicators. In 2017, Azerbaijan led the South Caucasus in GDP per capita – $4,212, compared to Georgia’s $4,047 and Armenia’s $3,869. By 2024, IMF figures show Azerbaijan trailing: $7,430 per capita, behind Georgia ($9,610) and Armenia ($8,860).
Growth this year has also lagged, with Azerbaijan’s GDP rising just 0.9 percent in January–July, compared with 8.6 percent in Georgia and 5.2 percent in Armenia.
“These setbacks mean that today Azerbaijanis are going to Georgia to work, to earn, and to send money back to their families,” Jafarli said.
He ended his post with a sharp rebuke of the government: “I wonder if our authorities are satisfied with this picture. They talk about everything in Cabinet meetings and in the Economic Council – except the problems and their solutions.”
