With the New Year festivities finally behind us, ISET’s Khachapuri Index started on its seasonal downhill trajectory. In January, the Index slid 4.3% m/m, reaching 3.61 GEL per one standard portion of the Imeretian khachapuri. At the same time, it is some 6% higher y/y (compared to January 2015).

The average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian Khachapuri stood at 3.61 GEL in January 2016. This is 4.3% lower m/m (compared to December 2015), and 6% higher y/y (compared to the same month of the previous year, January 2015). Thus, annual inflation, as measured by ISET’s Khachapuri index, is roughly in line with the official estimate of 6%, based on GeoStat’s Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The Russian ban on Turkish goods turns out to be a boon for Georgian consumers. As Turkey is shifting its surpluses to the Georgian market, the prices of fruits and veggies are plummeting.

Retail food prices, as measured by ISET-PI’s FPI, show 3.4% increase y-o-y (that is compared to the January 2015) and 2.6% increase from the previous month (that is when January 2016 is compared to December 2015). Compared to the previous month the biggest rise in price happened for eggplant (33.3%), tomatoes (20.8%) and tangerines (14.3%).

The New Year is approaching, and Georgian housewives are already preparing for this great event. So does the ISET-Policy Institute. The special dish we have cooked for our readers is a New Year Supra Index. Served on the Georgian Supra Map, the Index shows the cost (in GEL) of a standard supra meal for a family of 5-6 persons in each one of Georgia’s regions.