This week we use the Khachapuri Index to look at Georgia’s broader economic geography. We do so on the basis of price data for more than 100 products from each and every Georgian municipality, which were collected by the Georgian government with assistance from ISET and EU’s European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).

On September 30, ISET hosted Dwight Nystrom, Chief of Political and Economic Affairs of the US Embassy. His presentation was titled: “The Reach and Limitations of American Economic Power” and it was focused on US’s footprint on the global economy. Mr. Nystrom also discussed US economic conditions within different sections. According to the data he provided, the US share of GDP in global GDP began declining in 2000 and after the 2008 global financial crisis, it began to fall even more sharply.

Project aims to study the best international practices of food security data collection mechanisms and map and analyze the existing mechanisms in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in terms of food security data collection. ISET-PI team is expected to compare national data collection mechanisms with international practices, identify key gaps and challenges in measuring FS and provide specific recommendations for FS data collection in three countries.

The main objective of this project was to analyse the predicted potential for Georgia to specialize in the production of various agricultural goods. APRC assisted the German Economic Team within this project with regards to: searching, collecting and summarizing data, reviewing existing literature to study the potential of agricultural goods which have a relative comparative advantage compare to other.

ISET-PI launched the Retail Food Price Index in July 2015. The project is implemented thanks to the cooperation of the largest Georgian retail chains including Carrefour, Goodwill, Fresco, and SPAR. While data from the individual retailers are confidential, the average of prices from all stores can be combined to create a general FPI, as well as FPIs for individual products.