On June 7, during his visit to Georgia, Mr. Anthony De Lannoy, the Executive Director of the IMF who represents Georgia along with the other 15 countries at the IMF Board of Directors, addressed an audience of ISET researchers, students, and management, as well as senior representatives of the National Bank of Georgia, with an overview of the IMF and its cooperation with Georgia.

All over the world, the quest for technological innovation is proceeding with great intensity. Georgia is not an exception. While local universities are trying to build fab-labs (fabrication laboratories – small-scale workshops offering personal digital fabrication), the government has established the Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA) to support the creation of start-ups and tech companies.

Retail food prices increased by 3.4% on an annual basis (that is, compared to May 2016), but decreased by 1.2% on a monthly basis (that is, compared to April 2017). The biggest price increase was for cabbage, potatoes, and peaches (76.5%, 30.2%, and 17.5%, respectively).

ISET-PI’s forecast for the second quarter of 2017 was revised upward from 4.4% to 5.9%. Meanwhile, Geostat has updated its GDP growth estimate for the first quarter of 2017. The Q1 growth rate stands at 5%, which is 1.8 percentage points above the forecast.

In April 2017, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri decreased to 3.32 GEL, which is 2.5% lower month-on-month (m/m, that is, compared to March 2017), but 4.9% higher year-on-year (y/y, compared to April 2016).