On August 20, 2015, a strong hailstorm hit Georgia, devastating crops and infrastructure in eastern Kakheti. In Kvareli alone, the hailstorm destroyed about 1,300ha of Saperavi and 1,000ha of Rkatsiteli grapes, affecting more than 500 families. This was only one in a string of natural disasters striking Georgian farmers in recent years.
On the 21st of September, Salome Gelashvili, senior researcher at APRC, attended a workshop on the topic of “Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the M4P and Value Chain Projects supported by SDC in the South Caucasus” organized by the Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus.
The ISET Policy Institute is a founding member of the Economic Policy Advocacy Coalition (EPAC), supported by USAID’s Governing for Growth (G4G) project. This initiative seeks to support the creation of an enabling business environment through public and private dialogues.
International crude oil prices, which have hovered at $110 per barrel for the last three and a half years, started a sudden and abrupt downfall in August 2014, reaching a $50 per barrel mark in just five months. More than a year after the event, it looks like the oil price of $50 per barrel is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.
The average residential rental price first fell to 7.46 USD per m2 (a historical minimum since the start of the study) in October 2015, and after a slight peak in the following month reached 7.66 USD per m2 by the end of the year.