The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently visited ISET to present its Regional Economic Outlook: Resilience Amid Uncertainty: Will It Last?

On 16 December 2022, ISET Policy Institute introduced the “Caucasus and Central Asia Regional Economic Outlook” presentation, led by Selim Cakir, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Resident Representative for Georgia. Mr. Cakir discussed the key challenges affecting the economy throughout the region.

Following the tentative recovery observed in 2021, global economic conditions worsened significantly in 2022 (IMF, July 2022). Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 caused global economic growth estimates to drop for the first time since 2020.

For the Georgian economy, 2021 was a year of gradual recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Geostat rapid estimates, the real GDP expanded by 10.7%, coming within 0.1 percentage points of the ISET-PI forecast from November 2021 and surpassing the NBG and IMF mid-year projections, which ranged between 8% - 8.5% y/y.

The global economy continues to recover in Q3 2021 following the deep economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth accelerated as a result of the easing of virus- containment restrictions in most countries. According to the IMF forecast (October 2021), global GDP will grow 5.9% year over year (y/y), which is a downward adjustment from the previous estimate of 6% (July 2021).