28
March
2016
This week, ISET’s Khachapuri Index team checked whether average hourly wages in different Georgian locations cover the cost of one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri. Using the cost of khachapuri ingredients in four major Georgian cities (Tbilisi, Telavi, Kutaisi, and Batumi) and the latest available data for average monthly wages in the corresponding regions, we calculated that one hour of work would not always suffice to treat you to a portion of delicious Imeretian khachapuri.
26
March
2016
In the old times, particularly after major crises, humans always looked for someone whom they could hold responsible. Ancient societies had scapegoats (either animals or humans) that would be sacrificed after a disaster. People believed that the sacrifices purified the community and helped avoid the punishment of the gods.
23
March
2016
The recent resetting of Georgian-Iranian bilateral relations was in the focus of a seminar organized by ISET and the Austrian Institute for Caucasus Studies as part of the Vienna Forum for the Modernization of the Black Sea Region. Held on Tuesday, March 22nd, the seminar covered both historical and current – political and economic – aspects of cooperation between the two countries.
22
March
2016
On Monday, March 21st, European Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström visited ISET for a discussion of EU-Georgian economic relations, with an emphasis on DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area). She was accompanied by Janos Herman, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, and Natalie Sabanadze, Georgia’s Ambassador to the EU.
21
March
2016
We started forecasting the annual growth rate at the start of 2014 (see our January 2014 and February 2014 publications for a note on methodology). Based on this month’s data, we expect annual growth in 2016 to be 2.0% in the worst-case or “no growth” scenario, and 4.5% in the best-case or “average long-term growth” scenario.
