The growth forecast for the 1st quarter of 2014has been revised slightly upward from 7.3% to 7.4%. The growth forecast for the 2nd quarter of 2014 has been targeted at 7.7%.

In the 15th century, the Kingdom of Georgia started a painful process of disintegration from which it did not recover until the modern era, and ultimately, Georgia’s breakup at the end of the medieval age accounts for the regrettable fact that the country could not maintain its status as an independent nation (Florian Biermann and I discussed the cataclysmic Treaty of Georgievsk in our article about King Erekle II).

After suffering a temporary setback in April 2014, the year-on-year growth rate in May is back to upper single digits (6.3%). However, macro indicators suggest that the economic landscape has hardly changed between April and May.

For a long time, Russia was seen as the land of opportunity for foreign investors. The allure of the country with a large population, vast natural resources, and more importantly, a large middle class willing to spend money, was irresistible. The burgeoning economy, however, held a few secrets which threatened to derail investors’ hopes.

Cuba’s Fidel Castro once famously said about his country: “Even our prostitutes have university degrees”. While we don’t know about prostitutes, something similar could be said about Georgia. Virtually all Georgians have university degrees, and, as every frequent user of taxi services knows, there are Georgian taxi drivers who have two of them.