“The Arab Spring was a revolution of the hungry.” As stated by The Boston Globe’s journalist Thanassis Cambanis in his 2011 article claiming that in countries where access to food was an issue, “hitting the dinner table” is not a good idea. In order to demonstrate the importance of food prices, he went even further and reminded his readers that when food price inflation in Egypt reached almost 19%, the president of the country had to resign.

In January, the cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri continued to increase, ranging between 3.56 GEL (Batumi and Tbilisi) and 3.92 GEL (Kutaisi), with the average cost being 3.67 GEL. The new average price is 1.9% higher than the price in January 2016. As for month-to-month development, the price of khachapuri is 1.3% higher compared to the previous month (December 2016).

By the end of January, food prices in Tbilisi’s major supermarkets had increased by 7.2% compared to December 2016. Although prices increased m/m, there was a slight decrease in prices y/y. Food prices declined by 5.5% compared to January 2016.

The average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri in January 2017 across Georgian cities varied from 3.56 GEL (prices observed in Tbilisi and Telavi were exactly the same) to 3.92 GEL (observed in Kutaisi). The overall average price was 3.67 GEL, which is 1.3% higher compared to the previous month (December 2016), and 1.9% higher compared to same month last year (January 2016).

The average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian Khachapuri in the last month of 2016 increased to 3.62 GEL, which is 4.6 % higher month-on-month (m/m, that is, compared to the previous month), and 4% lower year-on-year (y/y, that is, compared to the same month of last year).