For the second quarter of 2021, BCI decreased by 1.7 index points and reached 1.7 after a significant increase in the previous quarter. The highest decline in business confidence is observed in retail trade, followed by the agriculture and construction sectors. The negative change in BCI for Q2 2021 is driven by pessimistic future expectations.
In March 2021, Georgian power plants generated 661 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 24% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (March 2020, the total generation was 867 mln. kWh). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from the decrease of 33% in hydropower generation, however, the generation of thermal and wind power have increased by 16% and 0.9%, respectively.
The Tbilisi Residential Sales Price Index (SPI) showed no significant fluctuations from the beginning of 2020; varying between 113 and 114 index points (the index equals 100 in the base period, January 2019).
The CCI deteriorated in March. We had hoped that the recovery of the Consumer Confidence Index, observed since December 2020, would bring the Index back to the levels observed last summer. Unfortunately, the trend reversed in March and the CCI decreased, from -35.5 in February to -39.0 in March.
The COVID-19 outbreak had a devastating effect on the Georgian economy in 2020. Real GDP contracted by 6.1% according to Geostat’s rapid estimates of economic growth. This was the worst performance of real GDP growth in the country in more than two decades.