In February 2016, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri declined to 3.44 GEL, which is 4.3% lower month-on-month (that is compared to January 2016), and 4.7% higher year-on-year (compared to February 2015).

According to Geostat estimates, Georgia’s annual real GDP growth in 2015 was 2.8%. ISET-PI’s annual GDP growth forecast of 2.9% annual growth (since September 2015) thus turned out to be quite accurate, just 0.1 percentage points above the official estimate.

Established almost eight years ago, ISET Policy Institute’s Khachapuri Index was inspired by the famous Big Mac Index of The Economist. The Big Mac Index ranks countries on the cost – translated into US dollars – of the Big Mac hamburger sold at local McDonald's restaurants. We rank Georgia’s major cities on the cost of cooking one portion of Imeretian Khachapuri.

The cost of cooking one standard portion of Khachapuri stood at 3.61GEL in January 2016. Compared to the previous month (December 2015) the Index lost 4.3%; in annual terms (compared to January 2015), it actually gained 6%.

The year 2015 was one of turbulence. It was a year in which the institutional foundations of the Georgian economy were tested. However, as our analysis shows, the country’s macroeconomic institutions exhibited remarkable resilience in the face of various shocks. This bodes well for future growth prospects. Thus, in the spirit of Lewis Carroll’s adage “take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves” we can give one piece of advice to Georgian policymakers: take care of the foundations, and the facade will take care of itself.