In April 2018, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri declined to 3.29 GEL, which is 7.4% lower month-on-month (that is, compared to March 2018), and 1.0% lower year-on-year (compared to April 2017).

The second half of 2017 lacked any drama, at least as far as Georgian consumer confidence (CCI) is concerned. During this period, the CCI moved within a very narrow band of [-16; -20] index points, with monthly changes not exceeding one or two points. This trend continued in January 2018 – the CCI lost 1.1 index points, declining from -17.8 in December to -18.9 index points in January 2018. CCI’s two sub-indices, capturing consumer expectations and present situation assessment, moved in the opposite directions.

2017 was a challenging year for Georgian agriculture. There is a decline in the level of sown areas, which decreased by 10.5% in 2017 compared to 2016. 214.9 thousand ha in 2017 is the lowest figure for the last four years. Average yields and production decreased for most crops, as well.

The unique cross-country study compares interest rates for a set of retail credit products in Georgia and select transition economies. The results suggest that the cost of credit in Georgia is lower than in the CIS countries which have been covered by the survey (namely, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and in many cases Armenia) while it’s somewhat higher compared to a cohort of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE) - this is true especially for local currency loans.

ISET-PI’s forecast for the first two quarters of 2018 stands at 4.1% and 5.1%, respectively (no change from last month’s estimations). Geostat has released its rapid estimate of real GDP growth for January and February of 2018. Estimated growth stands at 4.4% and 5.5%, correspondingly. As a result, the average real GDP growth for January-February 2018 reached 4.9%.