In December 2014 ISET-PI has been awarded a 5-year grant by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) providing the Institute with the opportunity to transform itself into the premier economic policy think-tank in the South Caucasus.

The recent bouts of sharp lari depreciation caused much anxiety among the Georgian population, prompting fears of inflation, loan defaults, and bank failures, on the one hand, and the typically Georgian political speculations over “who is to blame”, on the other.

ISET Policy Institute uses innovating approach to provide an analytical foundation to assess the indirect economic benefits of continued donor investment in the EWH corridor. ISET Policy Institute was contracted by the World Bank to assess the indirect economic benefits of the East-West Highway.

In February, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian Khachapuri fell to 3.29GEL, which is 3.4% lower month-on-month (compared to January 2015), and 4.8% lower year-on-year (compared to February 2014).

In order to assess the effectiveness of the Agricultural Card Program, APRC conducted focus group discussions with farmers and individual interviews with input suppliers and machinery service providers from different regions of Georgia were conducted in order to assess the impact.