Economic Press Monitor April 25 - May 1, 2021	Days:  17 24 01 15 22

economic & politics

TABULA: “TIKARADZE: SOME DOCTORS HAVE COMPENSATION OF 300 LARI A MONTH, SOME – 120,000, THIS IS UNFAIR”

April 29, 2021 - Ekaterine Tikaradze, Georgia’s Minister of IDPs from Occupied Territories, Labor, Healthcare and Social Protection, declared that “[labor’ compensation of our doctors is radically asymmetric”, “some doctors have compensation of 300 lari a month, and some doctors – 120,000 lari”.

“You would certify too that this is unfair”, the Minister said, while speaking in the country’s Parliament.

macroeconomics & budget

REZONANSI: “POPULATION AND ECONOMISTS DEMAND CONTINUATION OF ALLOWANCE PROGRAM, BUT THERE IS NO MORE MONEY IN THE BUDGET”

April 28, 2021 - In difficult situation that has arisen due to the pandemic, the program of subsidizing Georgian households’ utility bills appeared a good help to the population, but it has already ended, while soon, the program of allowance (to those, who have lost their jobs) of per 200 lari monthly will be ended too, the newspaper points.

MP Beka Liluashvili (adviser to former premier Giorgi Gakharia) considers that it is necessary to find additional resources to support the population.




TABULA: ““GMC”: 5 MEMBERS OF COMMUNICATION COMMISSION RECEIVED SALARY OF 2.1M LARI IN 2019-2020”

April 27, 2021 - Referring to Waste Detector (media project of non-governmental organization Governance Monitoring Center (GMC)), Tabula reports that up to 2.1 million lari was spent in 2019-2020 on labor compensation to 5 members of Georgian National Communication Commission.

The article notes that this amount exceeds salaries of prime ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovakia combined.




KVIRIS PALITRA: “WHAT DOES THE THIRD WAVE OF CORONAVIRUS MEAN FOR LARI”

April 26, 2021 - What impact will the third wave of COVID-19 have on exchange rate of Georgian national currency, lari, against the US dollar, is the actual question now, the newspaper writes. In this regard, the article brings comments of Otar Nadaraia, chief economist at TBC Capital, Giorgi Kepuladze, head of non-governmental organization Society and Banks, and Paata Bayrakhtari, vice-president of Georgian Young Businessmen and Financiers Association.

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “IN REALITY, WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY CANNOT HELP GEORGIA’S ENERGY SECTOR”

April 29, 2021 - Giorgi Chikovani, head of Georgian Energy Development Fund, has planned that by 2030, wind energy should make up 20% of Georgia’s generation, while solar energy – about 5%, the newspaper reports.

Regarding hydropower, Chikovani says that, unfortunately, most of the projects in this direction have been stopped – the matter concerns 20 small and medium-sized HESes.




FORBES GEORGIA: “GEORGIA AND SOLAR ENERGY – CALCULATIONS AND PLANS”

April 27, 2021 - Giorgi Chikovani, head of Georgian Energy Development Fund, says that the Fund is working currently on 3 projects of solar power plants (having capacities of 5, 25 and 50 MW). Total investment will be within $50 million.




FORBES GEORGIA: “GREEN ENERGY LOBBYIST | INTERVIEW WITH MAIA MELIKIDZE”

April 26, 2021 - Maia Melikidze, member of Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulating Commission, indicates that Georgia imports electricity currently from Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey.

In terms of price, Azerbaijan is interesting, but we usually negotiate with Russia too, for the simple reason that Azerbaijan may not have the volume that we need, says Melikidze in an interview with the magazine.

conflict and court

NETGAZETI.GE: “OIL SPILLS IN KAKHETI, STATE ANNOUNCES SANCTIONS AGAINST “FRONTERA””

April 29, 2021 - Former MP Beka Natsvlishvili declares that oil spills from stopped well in Dedoplistskaro (Kakheti region) and contaminates soil. The well belongs to Frontera, while the spilled oil reaches almost Vashlovani reserve, he notes.

companies

FORBES GEORGIA: ““LOPOTA SPA RESORT” IS EXPANDING – TOTAL INVESTMENT IN NEW FACILITIES IS ABOUT 20M LARI”

April 29, 2021 - This year, several new facilities will be added to Lopota Spa Resort (a hotel complex on Lake Lopota in Kakheti region), investment in which will total to about 20 million lari, the magazine reports.

In particular, the 15^th premium hotel building with 51 rooms will be added to the complex at the end of June, as a result of which the hotel’s total capacity will increase to 236 rooms.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “WITH SUPPORT OF “TBC” AND GEORGIAN-FRENCH INVESTMENT, HI-TECH FARM IS LAUNCHED IN DMANISI”

April 28, 2021 - With Georgian-French investment and support of Georgia’s largest TBC Bank, a hi-tech farm has been launched in Dmanisi municipality (Kvemo Kartli region), the newspaper reports.

Total cost of the farm’s construction and equipment made up 10 million lari.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““ROMPETROL GEORGIA” IS HEADED BY NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL”

April 27, 2021 - RomPetrol Georgia is headed by new director general, the newspaper reports. Georgiy Aiozba replaced Zamanbek Mirzayanov within the planned rotation of the management.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE ENTERED “GEORGIAN STATE ELECTROSYSTEM””

April 27, 2021 - Referring to accentnews.ge, the newspaper reports the Prosecutor’s Office has entered Georgian State Electrosystem.

To remind, Georgian State Electrosystem is state-run operator of Georgian electric power transmission system.




FORBES GEORGIA: ““ADJARA GROUP” WILL INVEST $13.5M TO TRANSFORM HISTORIC SANATORIUM IN ABASTUMANI INTO A HOTEL”

April 26, 2021 - Adjara Group is going to invest approximately $13.5 million in transformation of the historic sanatorium Arazindo in Abastumani into a modern hotel, the magazine reports.

The company is also partnering with Wings and Freeman Capital to raise funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), with which it will develop Rooms Hotel Abastumani.




FORBES GEORGIA: “DRY PORT WILL BE BUILT IN TBILISI – ESTIMATED INVESTMENT MAKES UP 27M LARI”

April 26, 2021 - A warehouse/logistics center for dry cargo will be built in Tbilisi, estimated investment in which will amount to 27 million lari, the magazine reports, with reference to bm.ge. The investment will be made by LLC Tbilisi Dry Port.

agriculture & food

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “THIS YEAR, APRICOTS WILL COST 7-8 TIMES MORE”

April 28, 2021 - Farmers forecast rise in price on apricots in Georgia, the newspaper says. The reason is named frost, which damaged apricot orchards.