In March 2024, the average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri stood at 6.40GEL. This latest average price marks a -1.8% decrease compared to March 2023. Additionally, in month-to-month developments, the price of khachapuri decreased by -6.4% compared to the previous month (February 2024).

Another rise in CCI. After the downward trends in January and February, the CCI increased by 3.9 index points, from -17.7 in February to -13.8 in March. Both the Expectations Index and the Current Situation Index moved upwards in tandem, increasing by 4 and 3.8 index points, respectively.

Similar to the year 2022, Georgia stayed on the path of economic recovery from COVID-19 in 2023 as well. According to GeoStat’s preliminary estimates, the real GDP continues to show a relatively high growth rate, measuring at 7.5% y/y in 2023 – which is remarkably higher than the NBG’s real GDP growth expectation of 6% from October 2023.

In June 2023, responding to appeals from the Georgian Flour Producers Association, the Georgian government imposed a temporary import duty on wheat flour imported from Russia. This advocacy by the Association began after Russia implemented a “floating tariff” on wheat in 2021, making wheat imports more expensive compared to wheat flour.

CCI declines further. After a small decline in the Consumer Confidence Index in January, the downward trend continued further in February – the CCI dropped from -15.5 in January to -17.7 in February (by 2.2 index points). On this occasion, the two sub-indices diverged in different directions