Georgian retail prices increased at the end of October. Driven by seasonal fruits and vegetables, ISET’s Retail Food Price index gained 2.2% m/m (compared to the last week of September). However, compared to October 2015, we still observed a significant 13.5% decline in food prices.

One glance at the ₾Khachapuri Index chart (for locals) tells the whole story of Georgian agriculture. Left to fend for themselves during the cold winter months, Georgian cows produce very little milk, sending dairy prices through the roof. Conversely, milk production peaks with the arrival of sunny weather and green fodders in early spring, leading to a collapse of milk prices.

Based on the latest data, the updated annual GDP growth projection is 3.4%. It is noteworthy that the model starts to provide the most accurate annual estimate in September when seven months of data is available on core explanatory variables.

On 26-28 September 2016, an ENPARD study tour, involving ENPARD Georgia, ENPARD Moldova, and ENPARD Armenia, was organized by the EU Delegation to Armenia and the FAO Office in Yerevan. The European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) was launched in Georgia in 2013, in Armenia in 2014, and recently started operations in Moldova.

After a group of economics students and professors from UNIL visited Tbilisi earlier this year and undertook a course in Mechanism Design taught by ISET’s senior academic advisor, Professor Motty Perry (University of Warwick), a delegation consisting of ISET professor Florian Biermann, three second-year students (Mzia Giorgadze, Gela Gelashvili, Laura Manukyan) and two ISET alumni (Saba Devdariani and Aram Grigorian) paid a return visit to Switzerland.