On December 14, 2017, the second phase of ReforMeter started with an evaluation of Georgia’s agricultural development.

In October 2017, Georgian power plants generated 828 mln. KWh of electricity, marginally up (+0.79%) compared to September. Following the traditional seasonal pattern, the share of electricity produced by renewable sources declined to 71% of total generation (87% in September), while thermal power generation’s share increased, accounting for 29% of total generation (compared to 13% in September).

The second presentation of the Policy Seminar Series took place on December 6, 2017. This time, Davit Hovhannisyan and Anahit Sargsyan – under the supervision of Karine Torosyan, a member of the resident faculty of ISET – led the presentation with a paper entitled “Labor Migration from Armenia and Georgia: Why Russia?”.

2017 is shaping up as one of the best years in Georgia’s post-2008 crisis history. The economy is expected to expand by about 5%, beating early expectations and official forecasts by the likes of the IMF and the World Bank. Based on updated GeoStat figures for Q1 and Q2, ISET-PI’s annual growth forecast currently stands at 4.9%. Even that figure is likely to be revised upwards if Q3 growth turns out to be higher than suggested by GeoStat’s preliminary estimate of 4.4%.

With EU financial and technical assistance, as well as training and education on cooperation and agribusiness, small farmers in Georgia are benefitting from economies of scale, cutting their production costs and increasing efficiency.