The New Year is approaching, and every Georgian family is already preparing for this festive event. And so is the ISET-Policy Institute. We are keeping with our tradition and cooking up a special edition of the Khachapuri Index for our readers: a “New Year’s Supra Index”. This Index shows the cost (in GEL) of a standard supra meal for a family of 5-6 people in each of Georgia’s regions.

Why do we care about competitiveness in energy markets? And, what are the benefits of increased competition from the supply side of the electricity market?

On April 3, 2015 the Government of Georgia adopted a technical regulation in the dairy sector in order to define major principles for the production, processing, and distribution of dairy products. Later in 2017, the regulation was amended and the law now strictly regulates the labelling of dairy products and particularly the use of terms such as “cheese” and “butter”.

In December 2018, Georgian power plants generated 986 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 9% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (in 2017, total generation in December was 1080 mln. kWh. The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from decrease in thermal power (-30%), more than offsetting the increase in hydro (+3%) and wind power generation (+11%).

Today and tomorrow over a third of the world’s population (around 2 billion people) will be celebrating Christmas1. Traditionally, the holiday season will inevitably feature an exchange of gifts. The sums spent on Christmas gift-giving are huge! For example, in 2018 the expected spending on Christmas gifts in the United States is around 885 USD per person2 – this is about 2.8% of what someone in the middle of income distribution earns per year.