In the last two weeks of February, ISET’s Retail Food Price Index increased by 5% (compared to February 2017). On a monthly basis (compared to January 2018), food prices in Tbilisi’s major supermarkets increased slightly, by 0.6%. We recorded the biggest bi-weekly price increases for bananas (10%), cucumbers (10%), and beef (4%). Prices dropped the most for garlic (-9%), rice (-6%), and potatoes (-5%).

On February 23, ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) hosted a final dissemination event under the “Strengthening Entrepreneurial Training in the Formal TVET System” project, implemented within the small grants scheme of the Millennium Challenge Account – Georgia, and funded by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Like most other former socialist countries, Georgia enjoys a very high literacy level, as measured e.g. by the share of people completing secondary education. And yet, the single most problematic factor for doing business in Georgia, at least since 2013, is the “inadequately educated workforce”. Not crime. Not corruption. Not access to finance. Not faulty infrastructure. Inadequately educated workforce.

On February 19, Sandro Shelegia, an Associate Professor of Pompeu Fabra University, presented to the ISET community a study by Joshua Sherman and himself entitled “Bargaining at Retail Stores: Evidence from Vienna”.

In January 2018, the average price of cooking one Imeretian khachapuri stood at 3.71 GEL. Compared to the previous year (January 2017), the Khachapuri Index gained 1.3 %. While going up in yearly terms, the Index actually dropped 2.9% compared to the previous month (December 2017).