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.

Georgian crime is ravaging in Germany. On February 28th of last year, the Augsburger Allgemeine published an article titled “Police captures Georgian burglary gang”. On May 22nd, the police of Bavaria issued a press release titled “DNA proves Georgian burglars to be guilty”. On August 13th, an article in the Bietigheimer Zeitung was titled “Georgian burglars put behind bars”, mentioning that since 2010, “burglaries by Georgian perpetrators have increased dramatically”.

Once again, Georgians across the country are preparing for the holiday season, making travel plans, crushing walnuts for gozinaki, and buying gifts for their friends and families. Gifts are an important part of celebrating the New Year and Christmas, signifying the importance of friendship and allowing us to treat our loved ones to something to start a brand new year in style.

On November 4th, President of ISET Eric Livny and the Team Leader of the German Economic Team (GET) Ricardo Giucci held a joint session for stakeholders on their most recent study: Depreciation of Lari: “Necessary and Effective”, that GET produced in cooperation with ISET-PI.

The final growth forecast for the third quarter of 2015 has not changed significantly since last month (declining by only 0.02%) and remains at 2.6%. Similarly, the second growth forecast for the fourth quarter of 2015 is still 3.8%.