Dr. Tamila Nutsubidze, a consultant at the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, visited ISET to talk about the challenges of the non-contributory pension system in Georgia.

Drug policy reform is now at the center of a heated debate in Georgia. Despite the importance of the subject, however, most of the discussions I have heard so far are based on phobias and myths, rather than on evidence. This is a pity, as a society will ultimately have to decide on the subject by voting YES or NO on this reform, thereby choosing between very different potential outcomes. Having an informed opinion on the issue is, therefore, extremely important.

Since January 2018, electricity tariffs have increased in Georgia. The new tariffs were determined by the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC) on December 27 2017 based on a review of applications submitted by the country’s distribution companies (JSI Telasi and Energo-Pro Georgia). In Tbilisi, the tariff has increased by 1.56 tetri per kWh and in regions by 1.28 Tetri per kWh.

The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth has announced an open call for applications between 17 January and 4 March 2018 for Demo Environment demonstration and planning grants.

Based on November 2017 data, the forecast for GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 remained at 4.6%. Real GDP growth rate reached 3.7 % y-o-y in November 2017. As a result, estimated real GDP growth for the first eleven months of 2017 was 4.8%.