The average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian Khachapuri in the second month of 2019 decreased to 3.54 GEL, 2.2% lower month-on-month (in comparison to the previous month), and 3.5% lower year-on-year (compared to the same month of last year). The Khachapuri Index is driven primarily by the price of cheese, the main ingredient in khachapuri. In February 2019, the cheese price declined in almost all large Georgian cities, relative to the same month of last year. The highest yearly price decrease (13.5%) of Imeretian cheese was recorded in the capital, Tbilisi. For Khachapuri lovers, Telavi is currently the most expensive city, with Tbilisi taking second place.

The following blog article was conceived of within the deliberations of a project, together with UNFPA, related to the cost assessment of potential changes to the leave policies of working parents. Admittedly, like the majority of the population, I had no idea that men in Georgia have the opportunity to take leave intended for childcare. It is a fact that since 2011 the number of fathers who have taken “childcare” leave can be counted on just two hands (including the ISET Alumnus, Giorgi Balakhashvili).

Winter has always been a problem for the Georgian electricity system. Even though Georgia has plenty of hydropower, during this season several HPPs — seasonal and small — either stop or substantially reduce electricity generation. In this season, a significant share of hydropower generation comes from two large-scale state-owned pumped-storage HPPs: Enguri and Vardnili. However, exactly when the generation-consumption gap is the largest, most of the electricity produced is used to satisfy the consumption of the Abkhazia region, which on a yearly basis consumes as much electricity as Tbilisi, something we have mentioned in one of our previous articles.

The average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian Khachapuri stood at 3.54 GEL in February 2019. This is 2.2% lower MoM (compared to January 2019), and 3.5% lower YoY (in comparison to February of 2018). The index having a downward trend at this time of the year is not unusual, and chiefly relates to the decreasing price of cheese (due to a higher supply of fresh milk).

The large and chronic water losses characterizing distribution networks constitute one of the major challenges faced by Georgian water utilities. The water supply generates approximately 700 million cubic meters of non-revenue water (NRW) each year1, considering just the urban centers. High water loss rates create excessive operational costs for the utilities and result in undesirable operational inefficiency in the water supply sector.