We started forecasting the annual growth rate at the beginning of 2014 (see our January 2014 and February 2014 publications for a note on methodology). Based on this month’s data, we expect annual growth in 2016 to be 2.0% in the worst-case or “no growth” scenario, and 4.5% in the best-case or “average long-term growth” scenario.

Mr. Livny chose to devote his TEDx talk to the challenge of bringing education and light to Georgia’s remote villages. He told the story of Dzevri, a tiny village in Imereti, which used the help of an American couple, Cathy McLain and Roy Southworth, to revolutionize the local school. In just three years, college enrolment for local school graduates went from zero to almost 100%.

In March 2016, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian Khachapuri stood at 3.27GEL, which is 5% lower month-on-month (m/m, that is compared to the previous month), but 6.9% higher year-on-year (y/y, that is compared to the same month of last year).

Retail food prices decreased by 1.3% y/y and 0.2% m/m. Compared to the end of March, the biggest drops in prices happened in the vegetable category: eggplants are down by 11.8%; cucumbers by 11.2%; and cabbage by 5.3%.

We are proud to announce that Maya Grigolia, an ISET alumna (class 2008) and senior researcher with the ISET Policy Institute, was offered a position of Research Director at Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG). In her new capacity, Maya will be working on project management, quality control, and communication issues.