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The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent stringent lockdown measures have had a drastic toll on the Georgian economy. The economic downturn has significantly affected the resilience of local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), whose sales decreased by almost 13% (YoY) in the first two quarters of 2020. These negative impacts of the economic contraction have been particularly severe for Women-led Small and Medium Enterprises (WSMEs).
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Independent entrepreneurship is one of the main drivers of economic development and often manifests itself in the form of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These start-ups trigger innovation, boost productivity, and bring about structural change.
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Thanks to a significant increase in the private sector expectations, BCI in the first quarter of 2018 has improved yet again (for the 2nd consecutive quarter), reaching 31.4 index points, which is a 3.2 index point gain over the previous quarter. Almost 60% of participating business executives expect their business will improve over the next three months.
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Evaluating the impact of the state support programs on the firm-level outcomes in Georgia. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the state support program of SMEs on the firm-level outcomes in Georgia. The Georgian government’s SME financing procedure offers just such a unique opportunity for a quasi-natural experiment, which allows the credible use of local/nonparametric regression discontinuity methodology (RDD).
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The Georgian Business Confidence Index (BCI) continues to decline, albeit at a slower pace. The first-quarter decrease in the Index was mostly driven by a significant decline in past performance.