Geostat has published its preliminary estimate of real GDP growth for March 2024, which stands at 8.2%. In addition, the estimated growth for the first quarter of 2024 reached 7.8%.

On May 14, 2024, Davit Keshelava, Lead Economist of the ISET Policy Institute, presented the newly developed Media (de)Polarization Index at the FREE Network conference titled: “Online Political Influence and Misinformation”. The presentation outlined the motivation behind the research, methodology, framework, and key findings.

Decline in the CCI. After the Consumer Confidence Index rose in March, the trend once again reversed in April – with the CCI declining by 4 index points, from -13.8 in March to -17.8 in April. Both the Present Situation and the Expectations Index each decreased, however, the decline was more prominent for people’s expectations; the Present Situation Index decreased by 1.6 points, while the Expectations Index fell by 6.4 points.

For the second quarter of 2024, business confidence in Georgia decreased slightly (by 1.3 index points) and reached 16.4. The highest decrease in business confidence is observed in the trade (-7.4) sector. The negative change in BCI for Q2 2024 was driven by decreased past performance as well as less optimistic expectations.

In April 2024, the average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri stood at 6.24 GEL, marking a 4.0% increase from April 2023. However, on a month-to-month basis, the price of a single khachapuri decreased by -2.4% compared to March 2024.