On December 12, ISET Policy Institute hosted a roundtable discussion of joint research of Armenian and Georgian economists on ‘Diverging integration paths of Armenia and Georgia: consequences for export sophistication and diversification’.

For the fourth quarter of 2023, business confidence in Georgia increased (by 2.4 index points) and reached 18.1. The highest increase in business confidence is observed in the trade (+21.7) sector. The positive change in BCI for Q4 2023 was driven by improved past performance as well as more optimistic expectations.

Geostat has released its rapid estimate of real GDP growth for August 2023. The estimated growth stands at 5.8%, while the average real GDP growth for January- August 2023 reached 7%.

Global economic growth is anticipated to decrease from 3.5 percent in 2022 to 3.0 percent in both 2023 and 2024. In comparison to the April 2023 World Economic Outlook (WEO) projections, there has been a modest 0.2 percentage point improvement in the growth forecast for 2023, while the 2024 projection remains unchanged.

The global economy remains in a volatile state amid the prolonged effects of the combined negative shocks of the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, high inflation, and the tightening monetary policy. Although the global economy remained resilient at the beginning of the year, the situation is expected to worsen.