10
January
2020
The economic policies of successive Georgian governments have arguably lacked cohesive direction when it comes to inclusive growth. There still remains an open question of whether the overall goal has been to pull people from agriculture or to leave them where they are while pushing productivity up via, for instance, funding the development of cooperatives or clusters. Concurrently, the state also has introduced industrial policies, like establishing SME support agencies that operate under the auspices of different ministries.
18
December
2019
The topic of circular labor migration has recently received increased attention within the objective of reducing unemployment in Georgia. Circular migration Schemes (CMS) are widely recognized policy tools for reducing illegal migration and facilitating the return of migrants to their countries of origin. The Georgian government’s increased interest and efforts to develop circular migration deals with EU member states serve, on the one hand, the long-term objective of addressing the high levels of unemployment, and, on the other hand, to reduce illegal, and stimulate legal, migration.
17
October
2019
On October 17, the APRC’s Rati Kochlamazashvili presented the results of a study of Value Added Tax (VAT) Exemption Impact for Increasing the Competitiveness of the Georgian Dairy Sector to dairy sector stakeholders, including farmers, dairy processors, and associations, as well as representatives of government bodies and parliament.
27
September
2019
According to the preliminary statistics released by GeoStat, Georgia’s real GDP growth was 4.5% year over year (y/y) in Q2 2019, which fell slightly below the 4.8% growth predicted by ISET-PI’s GDP forecast from July. As economic growth constituted 4.9% y/y in Q1, the Georgian government’s 4.5% target of real GDP growth for 2019 does not seem overambitious.
26
September
2019
According to the Georgian socio-economic development strategy, “Georgia 2020”, the economic politics of the Georgian government is based on the following principles:
