13
December
2016
Citizens of Georgia’s capital recently witnessed the luxurious Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi grand opening. A $140 million investment by the Dhabi Group supplied the market with 214 luxury rooms and suites. The $2 million opening, huge building, and central location (right on Rustaveli Avenue) made the appearance of this hotel on the market very noticeable.
01
December
2016
Teimuraz Gogsadze, a graduate of ISET's Class of 2011, joined the International Taxation Division of the Tax Policy Department at the Ministry of Finance of Georgia in May 2011. He worked on such interesting projects as the double taxation avoidance agreement and agreements on mutual administrative assistance in customs matters, gaining invaluable experience at the Ministry of Finance. Having spent almost a year at the Ministry and inspired by the experience regarding taxation matters, Teimuraz decided to continue his studies with a PhD program. In April 2012, he joined the PhD program in Economics at the University of Leicester, where his supervisors were Professors Sanjit Dhami and Ali al-Nowaihi.
21
November
2016
Geostat has updated its GDP growth estimate for the third quarter of 2016. The Q3 growth rate stands at 2.2%, which was 1.3% below the ISET PI’s forecasted value. As a result of the update, the growth forecast for Q4 of 2016 was revised downward to 2.9% from the 4.1% projected in October.
19
November
2016
A few weeks ago Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors and Chairman of SolarCity, among others) presented two new products: solar roof tiles produced by SolarCity, and Tesla’s Powerwall 2, designed to work together to revolutionize the concept of solar PV systems. Energy sector professionals, environmentalists, and renewable energy enthusiasts around the world (including Georgia) were thrilled, and started sharing information and opinions about the new products on social networks, talking of another step towards the revolution of the power sector so many are waiting for.
15
November
2016
After a couple of declines, food prices in the largest supermarkets in Georgia have increased. In the first two weeks of November, an upward trend was maintained: Retail FPI was 2% higher compared to the same period of October. An increase in FPI was driven by an increase in the price of fruits and vegetables. On an annual basis, we still record a significant overall 9.5% decline (November 2016 VS November 2015).
