Economic Press Monitor February 27 - March 5, 2022	Days:  19 26 05 12 19

economic & politics

REZONANSI: “BECAUSE OF RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR, CAR BUSINESS GOT AN UNEXPECTED BLOW”

March 4, 2022 - Because of war, which Russia started in Ukraine, Georgia’s car business is facing danger, the newspaper says.

The article brings data for 8 months of 2021, according to which Ukraine occupied the 2^nd position in re-export of cars from Georgia.




REZONANSI: “PROCEDURES OF UKRAINE’S ACCELERATED ADMISSION TO THE EU HAVE STARTED – WHAT WILL GEORGIA DO”

March 2, 2022 - During voting in the European Parliament on March 1, 637 out of 676 deputies supported granting status of the EU membership candidate to Ukraine.

Analyst Kakha Gogolashvili explained that it takes time to obtain a candidate status – according to the procedure, it takes 9-15 months.




NETGAZETI.GE: “UKRAINIAN EMBASSY MADE A COMMENT FOLLOWING RECALL OF THE AMBASSADOR”

March 2, 2022 - After Georgian authorities refused Ukraine to receive the plane that was supposed to transport Georgian volunteers to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled the ambassador from Georgia.

As Netgazeti.Ge reports, councilor of Ukrainian embassy in Georgia Andrey Kasyanov said that the ambassador was recalled for consultations, and “the reason was two key issues”.

macroeconomics & budget

REZONANSI: “PRODUCTS WILL RAISE IN PRICE ABRUPTLY, DECLINE OF INFLATION IS ALREADY DOUBTFUL”

March 2, 2022 - Iva Chkonia, head of Georgian Distributors Association, said that “There are really no signs of problems, connected with deficit” because of Russia-Ukraine war. “However, our import dependence on the markets of both Ukraine and Russia is very strong”, he pointed.




REZONANSI: “GEORGIA’S ECONOMY AND NATIONAL CURRENCY FACE HEAVY BLOW”

March 1, 2022 - While assessing impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Georgia, doctor of economics Vakhtang Charaia does not expect sharp depreciation of Georgian national currency.

Analyst Nika Shengelia points in his turn that the first very result of the war, which the Georgian economy felt, has affected exactly exchange rate of lari, which abruptly depreciated from the very first day.




REZONANSI: “IT IS NOT EXCLUDED THAT FLUCTUATIONS OF LARI EXCHANGE RATE WILL CONTINUE – FORECAST OF NBG VICE-PRESIDENT”

February 28, 2022 - “Certain fluctuations in relation to the lari exchange rate have been already recorded”, said Papuna Lezhava, vice-president of National Bank of Georgia (NBG). “It is not excluded that these fluctuations will continue”, he warned.

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “SOON, PRICE OF 1 L OF “REGULAR” WILL REACH 3.50 LARI”

March 4, 2022 - Vano Mtvralashvili, head of Georgian Oil-Products Importers Union, indicates that starting from the beginning of the year, oil price has been constantly rising, which was mainly caused by an increase in demand. And the Russia-Ukraine war has become an additional factor, prompting the abrupt price growth, he points.

companies

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““BORJOMI” CAME WITHIN SANCTIONS – ESTONIANS BANNED SALES”

March 4, 2022 - Estonia started withdrawal of Georgian mineral water Borjomi from the shelves of chain stores, the newspaper reports, with reference to online media portal Delfi. The process, approximately, will take several days.




NETGAZETI.GE: “BECAUSE OF SANCTIONS, “WORLDREMIT” SUSPENDED REMITTANCES TO GEORGIA”

March 1, 2022 - WorldRemit, one of remittance services, suspended serving transfers to Georgia, Netgazeti.Ge reports. The article indicates that the suspension applies also to Armenia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Tajikistan.




TABULA: ““VTB BANK” WILL NO LONGER SPONSOR GEORGIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION AND NATIONAL TEAM”

March 1, 2022 - VTB Bank Georgia will no longer be the general sponsor of Georgian Football Federation and the national team, said David Mujiri, secretary general of the Federation, on the air of Georgian Public Broadcaster.

Mujiri indicated that since February 25, when games of national league began, there has not been a single banner of VTB at the stadiums.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““MAGNITI”: WE ARE 100% GEORGIAN COMPANY, SUPPORTING UKRAINE AND ITS FREEDOM”

February 28, 2022 - Supermarket chain Magniti, as a 100% Georgian company, supports Ukraine and its freedom, the company posted on Facebook.

Full legal name of Magniti is LLC Retail Group.




TABULA: ““SILKNET” SHUT OFF RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA CHANNELS “ORT” AND “RTR””

February 28, 2022 - Russian propaganda TV channels ORT (First Channel of Russia) and RTR (Russia-RTR) could be found in broadcasting net of Georgian telecom operator SilkNet, but they are marked as disabled, Tabula reports.

The article indicates also that according to SilkNet, several channels in its network are disabled for technical reasons, and restoration work is underway.