26
June
2015
When offered the ISET director job back in March 2007, I did not think twice. Everything I’ve read about Georgia until then was incredibly positive. Livable, hospitable, beautiful, corruption-free, etc., etc. The latter part sounded particularly promising given that during my last days in Moscow (I lived and worked in Moscow from 1993 till 2007) I had my brand new BMW motorbike stolen in broad daylight by a local police officer (sic!) who knew that I am about to leave the country and probably thought that there would be no use for motorbikes on Georgia’s terrible roads.
12
June
2015
Who should be supervising the activities of commercial banks in Georgia? Currently, this responsibility lies with the country’s National Bank. However, the Georgian parliament will soon be deciding on new legislation, which, if passed, could take away the supervisory role from NBG and transfer it to an independent agency reporting directly to the prime minister.
11
June
2015
The lari depreciation caused a substantial decrease in USD prices of real estate. Average rental prices of residential property reached their historical minimum in March 2015. Property sellers are trying to compensate for the price decline by offering better, more expensive housing for sale.
09
June
2015
On Monday, 8th of June, Zurab Abramishvili from the CERGE-EI (Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute) presented his research proposal titled “The Principal Principle: How an Immediate and Random Replacement of School Principals Illuminates Their Value Added; A Case of Education Policy in Georgia”. Mr. Abramishvili is an ISET graduate in 2010, currently, he is doing postdoctoral work at ISET.
08
June
2015
On Friday, June 5th, ISET hosted Mr. Rezo Vashakidze, the founder of Chirina Ltd, by far the largest Georgian producer of poultry products (sold under the BiuBiu brand), a Greenfield investment worth more than 80 mln USD. The main topic of Mr. Vashakidze’s presentation was entrepreneurship in Georgia (as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia).
