On January 20th, the ISET Policy Institute presented the final results of its regulatory impact assessment (RIA) regarding the draft methodology of irrigation/drainage tariffs. The goal of the workshop was to present and receive feedback from major stakeholders on the final results of the RIA. The effort of different research centers of the ISET Policy Institute has also contributed to the study since mid-November 2015.

The Russian ban on Turkish goods turns out to be a boon for Georgian consumers. As Turkey is shifting its surpluses to the Georgian market, the prices of fruits and veggies are plummeting.

On January 14-16, 2016 ISET-PI’s Senior Researcher Nino Doghonadze attended a conference centered on the discussion of, “Economics, Health and Happiness” in Lugano, Switzerland. The conference brought together interdisciplinary researchers from approximately 60 countries.

For over three and a half years, the ISET Policy Institute has been tracking the trends in the Georgian consumer sentiments. Every month a team of callers dial randomly generated telephone numbers to interview around 330 people from all over Georgia. The interviewer first asks the basic questions about the respondent’s age, level of education, place of residence, and then follows up with questions about the current financial situation of the household and the person’s expectations about the future economic situation in the country.

Retail food prices, as measured by ISET-PI’s FPI, show 3.4% increase y-o-y (that is compared to the January 2015) and 2.6% increase from the previous month (that is when January 2016 is compared to December 2015). Compared to the previous month the biggest rise in price happened for eggplant (33.3%), tomatoes (20.8%) and tangerines (14.3%).