Looking at the consumption and generation trends of the past year, it is evident that Georgia is an electricity importing country during most months, with consumption almost always exceeding domestic generation. The only exceptions over the last 12 months were May and June, when the generation-consumption gap briefly became positive, reverting to the negative again in July. This is quite a dramatic change from how the country’s generation-consumption gap looked back in 2010 when the country exported almost seven times more electricity (1524.3 GWh) than it imported (222.1 GWh) and thermal power generation was reduced to 682.8 GWh.
The annual real GDP growth for 2019 amounted to 5.2%, while the real GDP growth rate reached 5.1% year-on-year for January 2020. Before taking into consideration the negative consequences of COVID-19 on the real GDP growth forecast, ISET-PI predicted 4.7% and 5.4% growth for the first and second quarters of 2020 respectively, based on data from January 2020.
A nationally representative sample of around 350 Georgians, interviewed in early February 2020, shows that the Consumer Confidence Index improved by 0.9 index points, from -20.4 in January to -19.5 in February, which could be because consumers usually pull back in January after spending fairly more during the Christmas celebrating season.
Assessment of the water policy needs and challenges to strengthen a long-term vision of the water policy framework of Georgia. Many countries of the Eurasia region have shown commitment to implement the principles of the EU Water Framework Directive and IWRM, and they tend to reform their water institutions and policies and develop river basin management plans in approximation with these principles.
As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread around the world and has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, the next global economic recession is no longer an “if” or even a “when” event. Unfortunately, it is already upon us. In just the past few days.