In 2016, GEO real property market grew substantially. With a total of 89 120 transactions, the market this year surpassed 2015 by 20.2%. The highest number of sales was registered in AUG-16 & DEC-16, with 8 076 and 8 099 units respectively.

During the last 10 months (January-October, 2016) 605 new buildings with total area of 1 202 828 sq.m have been supplied to the real property market. This represents 53.6% and 74.2% growth, respectively, over the same period last year.

As economic development progresses, air pollution and the lack of green spaces have become increasingly painful issues for Tbilisi citizens. In our previous blog, Breathing in Tbilisi, we discussed the negative outcomes – in terms of air pollution and tree-cutting – generated by the actions of self-interested developers facing an inert civil society and a local government that is unwilling and/or unable to protect the green public spaces.

On 29 November 2016, in the framework of the EU-funded European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), an Interagency Forum on “Access to Finance for Cooperatives” took place at the Hotels & Preference Hualing Tbilisi. The purpose of the forum was to discuss challenges and opportunities that cooperatives face with regard to access to finance.

After a couple of declines, food prices in the largest supermarkets in Georgia have increased. In the first two weeks of November, an upward trend was maintained: Retail FPI was 2% higher compared to the same period of October. An increase in FPI was driven by an increase in the price of fruits and vegetables. On an annual basis, we still record a significant overall 9.5% decline (November 2016 VS November 2015).