This policy brief addresses risks tied to Russian business ownership in Georgia. The concentration of this ownership in critical sectors such as electricity and communications makes Georgia vulnerable to risks of political influence, corruption, economic manipulation, espionage, sabotage, and sanctions evasion. To minimize these risks, it is recommended to establish a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) screening mechanism for Russia-originating investments, acknowledge the risks in national security documents, and implement a critical infrastructure reform.

Geostat has released its rapid estimate of real GDP growth for September 2023. The estimated growth stands at 5.1%, while the average real GDP growth for January-September 2023 reached 6.8%.

Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) is a process of evidence-based policymaking, which helps in designing better regulations. This process creates evidence for political decision-makers on the advantages and disadvantages of proposed policies by assessing their potential impacts. The results are summarized and presented in the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) report.

On December 7, ReforMeter and the USAID Economic Governance Program hosted a second public-private dialogue dedicated to assessing progress in E-commerce reform. The reform aims to improve the legal and regulatory framework of the field of electronic commerce in terms of the protection of consumer rights, and activities of intermediary service providers, provides personal data protection and payment system and payment service directions.

On November 28, ISET Policy Institute held a free Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) basic course for local government officials. RIA is one of the best mechanisms for evidence-based policy development, and the preparation of it became mandatory for a number of normative acts initiated by the government since 2020.