ISET Policy Institute was recognized by the 2015 Global Go to Think Tank Index produced annually by Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) at the Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania.

According to GeoStat data, real GDP growth was 0.8% in January and 2.8% in February 2016. While these figures are by no means high, growth rates in the rest of the region are expected to be quite low this year. In this respect, in contrast to its neighbors, Georgia is performing reasonably well.

The Georgian Business Confidence Index (BCI) has gained 3 points (on a [-100/100 scale])1 due to the strengthening of business expectations. All of a sudden, the expectations of the private sector in Georgia improved and reached 38 index points. This is an improvement from 16 points in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Retail food prices show a 2.5% decrease y-o-y and a 2.3% decrease from the previous month. Compared to February, onions, coffee, and potatoes experienced the biggest drops showing 8.3%, 7.1%, and 7.0% decreases in prices, respectively.

Based on February data from three open bazaars in Tbilisi, the average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri stood at GEL3.47. Someone opting for the convenience of shopping in one of Tbilisi’s major supermarket chains, such as Carrefour, Fresco, Spar, or Goodwill, paid 4.40GEL (representing a premium of about 28%) for cooking exactly the same khachapuri.