In comparison to Q3 2019, the GEO real property market increased by 4.7% in Q4 2019. While the annual increase was observed at 3.0% (YoY) compared to Q4 2018. Tbilisi dominated the real property market with a 40.7% share in total sales in Q4 2019. The Tbilisi market was followed by Adjara and Kakheti, with a respective 12.4% and 12.2% of GEO sales.

In January 2020, the cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri continued to increase, ranging from 4.21 GEL (Kutaisi) to 4.38 GEL (Batumi), with the average cost being 4.30 GEL. The new average price is 18.3% higher than the price in January 2019. While in month-on-month development, the khachapuri price is 0.7% higher than in December 2019.

In 2019, Georgian power plants generated 11,865 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 2% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (in 2018, total generation was 12,149 mln. kWh) (Figure 1). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from decrease in hydropower (-10%), more than offsetting the increase in thermal (+34%) and wind power generation (+0.5%).

Geostat has published its rapid estimate of real GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2019, and their estimated growth stands at 5.3%, which is 0.7 percentage points above ISET-PI’s most recent forecast. The real GDP growth rate reached 3.8% year-on-year for December 2019.

In December 2019, Georgian power plants generated 1,012 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 3% increase in total generation, compared to the previous year (in December 2018, the total generation was 986 mln. kWh). The increase in generation on a yearly basis comes from the increase of 67% in thermal and 5% in wind power generation, more than offsetting the decrease in hydro power generation (-23%).