In August 2015, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian Khachapuri was 3.49 GEL, which is 11.4 % higher month-on-month (m/m, that is compared to the previous month), and 7% higher year-on-year (y/y, that is compared to the same month of last year).

According to the population projections of the United Nations (constant fertility scenario), by the end of this century, the Georgian people will count only 2.8 million. In 2013, Georgia has been among only 19 countries in the world with a population that decreased year on year. An aggravating factor is the sex ratio of babies, which in Georgia is heavily skewed towards males. While globally about 107 boys are born per 100 girls, in Georgia 111 boys are born per 100 girls, the fourth-highest ratio in the world.

On Tuesday, September 15th, Levan Pavlenishvili, research associate of Energy & Environment Research Center, visited Eastern Partnership Youth Camp in Kvareli. Levan leads a session on the Market Economy. He conducted a Competitive Bazaar simulation with camp participants to give them a sense of how the market works. As this simulation requires, Levan divided participants into two groups of buyers and sellers.

Georgian consumer confidence suffered a major blow at the end of 2014, in the wake of the sharp Lari depreciation. Around February 2015, the Index found some support at the very low level of -35-30 points and has been slightly improving since then. In July 2015, this mildly positive trend was reversed, and in August, the Index dropped another 4.1 points to reach a new historical minimum of -38.4 points. Interestingly, this entire drop was driven by older respondents, those aged over 35. We will come back to this point later in the article.

The growth forecast for the third quarter of 2015 has not changed since last month and remains at 2.6%. The first forecast for the fourth quarter growth of 2015 has been targeted at 3.8%.