This quarterly report provides an analysis of economic trends, as well as denoting the challenges and opportunities (in local, regional, and global contexts) in the selected value chains within six sectors to improve evidence-based decision-making by providing quality information and analytics. These specific sectors are tourism, creative industries, light manufacturing, shared intellectual services, waste management, and recycling, along with cross-cutting sectors.

The Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) of the Models for the Implementation of the Equal Pay Review and Reporting (EPRR) Methodology in Georgia was conducted by the ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) as part of its collaboration with UN Women within the scope of the project “Regulatory Impact Assessment and Gender Impact Assessment for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia”.

The World Health Organization’s declaration of Covid-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, can be considered a watershed in the recent history of mankind. The pandemic and its concomitant changes, such as switching to remote activities, affected different aspects of one’s life, including individuals’ participation in and behavior on the labor market. Georgia was no exception in this respect. The unprecedented nature of the crisis brought about unprecedented consequences for the country’s already vulnerable labor market.

The Water Policy Outlook study aimed to compare and contrast existing policy frameworks against the long-term strategic plan and vision for the water sector by respective governments. The outlooks aimed to map the future policy challenges and policy reform opportunities required to achieve these long-term strategic objectives.

The Residential Sales Price Index (SPI) for Tbilisi increased moderately in April and May of 2021, however it decreased slightly in June and amounted to 114.4 index points (equaling 100 in the base period of January 2019). Compared to the second quarter of 2020, the SPI showed an increase in Q2 2021 – with the largest change of 7.9% (YoY) in June 2021.