Economic Press Monitor April 28 - May 4, 2019	Days:  20 27 04 11 18

economic & politics

NETGAZETI.GE: “SALARY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN – REASONS AND POSSIBLE WAY OUT”

May 2, 2019 - In Georgia, salary of women is by 36% lower, than of men, Women’s Movement reports with reference to Sakstat.

Human rights activists say that the difference is caused not by skills of particular persons, but stereotypic and discrimination approaches, Netgazeti.Ge says.




REZONANSI: “NATURAL INCREASE IN GEORGIA UNEXPECTEDLY REDUCED SHARPLY – ALMOST BY 20%”

May 1, 2019 - Referring to Sakstat, the newspaper reports that Georgian population as of January 1 made up 3.7 million that is by 0.2% below the indicator of previous year.

Demographer Avtandil Sulaberidze indicates that the population is reduced for two reasons – decrease of birth rate and growth of mortality rate (negative natural increase) and migration.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “MACHAVARIANI – COURT IS RATHER SLUGGISH AND I SEE THAT THERE ARE CASES, WHICH ARE PROTRACTED IN TIME”

April 30, 2019 - Georgia’s Finance Minister Ivane Machavariani considers that Georgian court, as service provider to population, is rather sluggish. I see that there are cases, which are protracted in time, we need much more judges, than are available, he declared in the program 360 Degrees of PalitraNews broadcasting company.




REZONANSI: “WHETHER THE US WILL IMPOSE SANCTIONS AGAINST GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT – “DREAM” ACCUSES OPPONENTS OF BLUFFING OF THE STRATEGIC PARTNER”

April 30, 2019 - The US Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) submitted the bill to the Congress, which envisages imposition of sanctions against the government of Georgia, the newspaper reports.

The article specifies that the sanctions will be imposed in case, if actions of Georgian government are established, which create danger to contract with the Americans, involved in business process, and fulfillment of obligations by them.

macroeconomics & budget

FORBES GEORGIA: ““MOODY’S” NAMES GEORGIAN ECONOMY’S MAJOR RISKS”

May 1, 2019 - For the first time after 2010, Moody’s improved in 2017 the sovereign credit rating of Georgia from “Ba3” to “Ba2”, the outlook is stable, the magazine notes.

As Moody’s specifies, despite rapid growth, in Georgia, “low income of population and households limit their resilience to economic shocks”.

conflict and court

TABULA: “SOCIAL WORKERS: HEALTHCARE DEPARTMENT DOES NOT KEEP PROMISES MADE TO US”

May 3, 2019 - Georgian social workers say that the Healthcare Ministry does not keep the made promises, Tabula reports.

The article says that emergency cars served caseworkers within 2 weeks, however there are already 10 days that no car is on the place.

companies

NETGAZETI.GE: “THE GOVERNMENT WROTE OFF PENALTY FOR CONSTRUCTION VIOLATIONS TO “STATE ELECTROSYSTEM””

May 2, 2019 - The government wrote off the penalty, imposed on Georgian State Electrosystem for construction violations, reports Netgazeti.Ge. Respective order was signed on April 30.

transport & communications

FORBES GEORGIA: “MOST POPULAR CARS IN GEORGIA – TOP 10 MODELS”

May 1, 2019 - In 2018, Georgia’s vehicle fleet increased by 5.1%, the magazine reports. At that, age of 45.5% of cars exceeds 20 years.

finances & banking

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““TBC” BUYS UZBEKISTAN’S LEADING PAYMENT PLATFORM “PAYME””

May 3, 2019 - TBC Bank entered Uzbekistan, buying Payme, leading payment platform of the country, the newspaper reports.

As the article notes, this transaction allows TBC Bank to increase number of customers by 50%, so that the number exceeds now 3.5 million people (cost of transaction is not specified).




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “NEGATIVE IMPACT OF NEW BANKING REGULATION IS ALMOST EXHAUSTED”

May 2, 2019 - “The negative impact of new banking regulation is almost exhausted”, the expert Giorgi Tsutskiridze considers. Regulation of this kind “always has the short-term negative impact”, he specifies.




FORBES GEORGIA: “VOLUME OF OVERDUE CREDITS IN GEORGIA AND COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD”

May 2, 2019 - Referring to National Bank of Georgia (NBG), the magazine reports that share of credits, which are delayed for 90 and more days, makes up 2.71% of total loan portfolio in Georgia (without interbank ones).

According to NBG, this is “one of the best indicators among the comparable countries”.




TABULA: “GVENETADZE: BANKING REGULATIONS NOT LIMIT, BUT MAKE SYSTEM HEALTHY”

April 30, 2019 - “Regulations not limit, but make the system healthy”, president of National Bank of Georgia Koba Gvenetadze posts on his Facebook. For solvent consumers, the regulations “create improved opportunities”, he notes.

tourism

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““KEMPINSKI” AND “M² REAL ESTATE” WILL OFFER VACATIONERS THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF SERVICE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY”

May 3, 2019 - Georgian developer company m² Real Estate signed management contracts with Kempinski, the newspaper reports.

According to the newspaper, at least 95-room Kempinski hotel will be opened in Mtatsminda district of Tbilisi in the 3^rd quarter of 2020.