Economic Press Monitor January 29 - February 4, 2023	Days:  21 28 04 11 18

economic & politics

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “PROCUREMENT OF SUBWAY CARRIAGES FROM A RUSSIAN COMPANY IS CARRIED OUT NOT BY THE STATE, BUT BY THE EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT”

February 2, 2023 - Maia Bitadze, chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee, said that when purchasing carriages for the Tbilisi subway, the main thing is the technical compliance with the Georgian subway. “Whether it’s a Russian company, African or Transatlantic, it doesn’t matter”, she said.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““OUR ECONOMY GREW ONLY LAST YEAR, AT THE EXPENSE OF UKRAINE’S MISFORTUNE, AS PEOPLE AND MONEY COME TO GEORGIA FROM RUSSIA””

February 2, 2023 - Kakha Okriashvili, leader of Georgian opposition party Progress and Freedom and founder of pharmaceutical company PSP, says that Georgia’s economy almost did not grow since 2012, and grew by 10% only in 2022.

However, this growth occurred “at the expense of Ukraine’s misfortune, as people and money come to Georgia from Russia”, Okriashvili indicates.




FORBES GEORGIA: “GEORGIA’S VAGUE POSITION ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE: PRAGMATIC OR RISKY?”

February 2, 2023 - Georgia’s position on Russian aggression in Ukraine is rather uncertain, the article says. The Georgian government condemns the war, but does not join the sanctions against Russia.




REZONANSI: “SPUN OUT OF THIN AIR SUBJECT OF SANCTIONS CIRCUMVENTION BECAME TOPICAL AGAIN”

January 30, 2023 - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was followed by sanctions against Russian companies and citizens, and since then, as the newspaper says, “ungrounded accusations against Georgia were repeatedly voiced” in connection with circumvention of sanctions.

Georgia’s Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili assures that immediately after approval of list of sanctioned goods and persons, strict control of movement of sanctioned goods was started.




NETGAZETI.GE: “ATTEMPTS OF RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA POTENTIALLY COMPLICATE THE EU CANDIDACY – “FITCH””

January 30, 2023 - Fitch Ratings confirmed Georgia’s sovereign rating at the level of “BB”. At that, Fitch upgraded outlook for Georgia from “stable” to “positive”.

macroeconomics & budget

REZONANSI: “ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2023 WILL BE ALSO DOUBLE-DIGIT OR CLOSE TO IT!”

February 1, 2023 - “As a rule, international organizations are very cautious in their forecasts”, says Giorgi Kapanadze, president of Georgian Young Financiers and Businessmen Association.

As an example, Kapanadze brings beginning 2022, when Georgia’s economy was projected to grow by 5-6%, while by end of the year, almost everyone changed their mind and raised forecasts to double-digit ones.




FORBES GEORGIA: “GEORGIA RANKS 76^TH IN THE WORLD IN TERMS OF INFLATION”

February 1, 2023 - Trading Economics places Georgia 76^th in the world in terms of inflation rate, recorded at the end of 2022 (9.8%). According to the rating, 104 countries have lower inflation.

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “PETROL WILL SOON COST 2 LARI – CHEAPENING OF FUEL WILL CONTINUE, ITS RISE IN PRICE IS EXCLUDED”

February 1, 2023 - On Georgian wholesale market, 1 l of petrol costs 1.85-1.90 lari now. In turn, the retail price has decreased to 2.10-2.20 lari.

conflict and court

TABULA: ““USA2GEORGIA” ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY TOWARD CUSTOMER AND RESPONDS TO CHALLENGE WITH LOYALTY”

January 30, 2023 - USA2Georgia will not enter into litigation with customers and will fully compensate to hundreds of them the difference in costs of parcels’ delivery, calculated according to real and bulk weights, the Georgian forwarder said in a statement.

As the company noted, the decision was made in cooperation with Georgian National Competition Agency (which has launched investigation on possible violation of consumer rights).

companies

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““TBILISI ENERGY”: CONSUMERS RECEIVED THOSE PAYMENTS, IN WHICH VOLUME THEY CONSUMED GAS”

February 3, 2023 - Tbilisi gas distribution company Tbilisi Energy reported that as a result of accidents, caused by gas heating devices in Tbilisi, 12 people died and 65 people received strong intoxication in 2022. Although compared to previous years, statistics have significantly decreased, the company noted.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““SILKNET” HAS A PROFIT OF 42M”

February 1, 2023 - JSC SilkNet reported revenues of 413.4 million lari for 2021 (data for 2022 has not been published yet). If compared with 2020, the volume has increased by 8%.




NETGAZETI.GE: “COMPANY OF KHVICHA MAKATSARIA WANTS TO BUILD A SHOPPING CENTER INSTEAD OF THE “DESERTER MARKET””

January 31, 2023 - LLC Tbilisi Mall plans to build a 2-storey shopping center on the place of the so-called “Deserter Market” (the market in Tbilisi, mainly agricultural, near the Railway Station). According to the project documentation, height of the new building will be 15.4 m.




FORBES GEORGIA: “RATING OF GEORGIAN COMPANIES PRODUCING CARBONATED BEVERAGES”

January 31, 2023 - In Georgia, consumers annually spend over 0.5 billion lari on carbonated beverages and soft drinks.

Referring to reports of Georgian producers of carbonated beverages for 2021 (data for 2022 has not been published yet), the article names Coca-Cola Bottlers Georgia the most profitable.




FORBES GEORGIA: “RATING OF GEORGIAN OIL IMPORTING COMPANIES”

January 31, 2023 - In 2021, the Georgian economy paid over 4 billion lari for acquisition of oil-products.

Referring to reports of Georgian oil importing companies for 2021 (data for 2022 has not been published yet), the article names SOCAR Petroleum Georgia the most profitable.




FORBES GEORGIA: “WITH SUPPORT OF “TBC”, RUSTAVI OIL REFINING PLANT RESUMES OPERATION WITH NEW NAME AND CAPACITY”

January 31, 2023 - Oil refining company RustavOil will continue operating under the name Serpens.

Besides change of the name, the company increases storage capacity to 20,000 t.




FORBES GEORGIA: “PARTNERSHIP FUND SOLD 49% STAKE IN “GARDABANI THERMAL POWER PLANT” TO GOGC FOR 43M EUR”

January 30, 2023 - Georgian Partnership Fund sold 49% stake in Gardabani Thermal Power Plant to Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) for 43.2 million EUR. According to the Fund’s report, the assets were handed over in December 2022.

transport & communications

TABULA: “FROM MARCH 20, TBILISI CITY HALL WILL STOP ISSUING PERMITS FOR CATEGORY A TAXIS”

February 3, 2023 - From March 20, Tbilisi City Hall will stop issuing permits for taxis of category A (white cars with the inscription “TAXI Tbilisi”).

After April 1, only those individuals will be able to obtain an indefinite permit, who had owned a category A permit at least once between October 1, 2019 and March 20, 2023.

finances & banking

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “FROM TODAY, NATIONAL BANK SETS AN UPPER LIMIT ON COMMISSION FEES FOR INTERBANK TRANSFERS”

February 3, 2023 - Since February 1, National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has been setting an upper limit on commission fees for transfers between banks, made using RTGS system (Real Time Gross Settlement).

This system is used for transfers between banks in lari, as well as for transfers to the Georgian Finance Ministry’s Treasury Service and vice versa.




FORBES GEORGIA: ““VISA”: GEORGIA IS ON THE FIRST PLACE IN THE WORLD IN TERMS OF PENETRATION OF CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS”

February 2, 2023 - VisaNet said that in terms of contactless payments, Georgia is on the first place among more than 200 countries of the world, where Visa International operates. Out of every 10 transactions, made with Visa cards in Georgia, almost all 10 are contactless.

construction

NETGAZETI.GE: “REPLACEMENT OF EMERGENCY HOUSES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT FULL CONSENT OF THE OWNERS”

February 3, 2023 - Until now, replacement of emergency houses in Tbilisi was allowed only if there was full consent of all interested parties.

However, according to amendments, made by Tbilisi Sakrebulo (city council), consideration of the issue of replacing an emergency residential building will be possible even without the full consent of all interested parties.