The cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri in June 2017 ranged between 2.64 GEL and 3.52 GEL, with the average price being 3.08. The average price in June 2017 is 1.8% lower compared to the previous month (May 2016), and 1.5% higher year-on-year (compared to June 2016).

In May 2017, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri declined to 3.14 GEL – a 5.4% decrease month-on-month (compared to April 2017). In annual terms (compared to May 2016), however, the Index gained 8.5%.

With 6.3 million tourists visiting the country in 2016, Georgia has become a popular tourist destination. In May, the number of international visitors (those who stayed in the country 24 hours or more) increased annually by 19% (compared to the same month in the previous year). While Tbilisi Airport is the main border-crossing point, in May, Batumi Airport overshot Kutaisi Airport, famous for its low costs flights, and experienced a 20% annual increase in the number of arrivals.

APRC is working on a research to inform the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia on the costs and benefits of climate change adaptation measures in agriculture of Georgia.

On the 25th of May, ISET was pleased to host the environmental economist and founder of the consultancy company GIST Advisory, Pavan Sukhdev, for a presentation. Starting his career as a physicist, Mr. Sukhdev got interested in the challenges of environmental protection. This led him to investigate economics, particularly aiming at understanding the significance of businesses as a driver of the changes that we see around us as well as third-party impacts, which are known as externalities in economics.