Economic Press Monitor July 4 - 10, 2021	Days:  26 03 10 17 24

economic & politics

REZONANSI: “GOVERNMENT PLANS TO HALVE POVERTY – ECONOMISTS DOUBT MUCH”

July 7, 2021 - As of 2020, the poverty rate in Georgia made up 21.3%. Natia Turnava, Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, declared that this indicator will drop by 2030 to 10.7%.




REZONANSI: “DUE TO UNPRECEDENTED HIGH INFLATION, THERE ARE DEMANDS OF RESIGNATION OF NATIONAL BANK’S ADMINISTRATION”

July 6, 2021 - In June, Georgia’s consumer price index increased year-on-year by 9.9%, the newspaper points, stressing that the country did not see such high inflation for the last 10 years.

National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is unable to curb price growth, despite of responsibility for inflation, assigned on it by the law, the article says.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““TRANSPARENCY AND PROBLEM OF POWER EXCHANGE ARE MAIN CHALLENGES OF THE ENERGY SECTOR TODAY” – GIORGI KAPANADZE”

July 6, 2021 - Giorgi Kapanadze, head of Georgian Young Businessmen and Financiers Association, considers that main problems of the country’s energy sector are transparency and operation of power exchange. He declared this on the air of radio Commersant.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““IDEA OF REPLACEMENT OF LARI WITH ANOTHER MORE STABLE CURRENCY IS UTOPIAN””

July 6, 2021 - Recently, several economists have voiced the idea of replacing lari with another, more stable currency, the newspaper points and brings comment on the subject, made by vice-president of Georgian Young Businessmen and Financiers Association Paata Bayrakhtari.

Bayrakhtari posted in social media that this idea is utopian and there are many risks associated with it.




KVIRIS PALITRA: ““NONE OF US HAS THE RIGHT TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE CITY, THE PEOPLE, THE ECONOMY” (EXCLUSIVE)”

July 5, 2021 - There are 3 months left until local elections in Georgia, the newspaper points and names already well-known candidates for the post of Tbilisi Mayor: Kakha Kaladze, Zurab Japaridze (political party Girchi), Anna Dolidze.

Movement Lelo for Georgia considers Temur Chkonia (president of Coca-Cola Bottlers Georgia) a good candidate for the post of Tbilisi Mayor, the newspaper indicates and offers interview with the businessman.

macroeconomics & budget

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “KOBA GVENETADZE FORECASTS INFLATION TO DECREASE FROM MARCH 2022”

July 9, 2021 - Koba Gvenetadze, president of National Bank of Georgia, indicates that inflation becomes more and more growing problem in the world, as inflation rate exceeds the target everywhere.

Currently, high inflation is caused by price growth on fuel, vegetable oil, sugar, wheat, Gvenetadze explains, noting that this is temporary.




REZONANSI: “NEW STAGE OF LARI STRENGTHENING HAS BEGUN – EXCHANGE RATE WILL BE GRADUALLY STABILIZED AROUND 3.0”

July 8, 2021 - In recent days, lari has strengthened by 3 tetri against the US dollar and today, the exchange rate makes up 3.13 GEL/USD, the newspaper reports.

Banking expert Mikheil Tokmazishvili notes that “after deep economic decline, upswing is always expected”.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: ““TBC CAPITAL” PRESENTED UPDATED, MACRO-SECTORAL REVIEW”

July 5, 2021 - TBC Capital forecasts Georgia’s real GDP growth in 2021 at about 10.5%, while in 2022 – 6.5%, the newspaper reports.

Inflation is projected to reach 7.4% by the end of 2021, and 3% in 2022.

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “FUEL PRICE REACHED ABNORMAL LEVEL – THERE IS SEEN NO WAY OUT OF DEADLOCK OF EXPENSIVENESS”

July 9, 2021 - In recent period, 1 l of Regular petrol at small gas stations costs 2.65-2.69 lari, while at branded ones – 3 lari, the newspaper reports. Wholesale price of petrol makes up 2.55 lari, of diesel – 2.3 lari.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “GIORGI KAPANADZE: PRIOR TO LAUNCH OF POWER EXCHANGE, SCHEDULE OF PLANNED WORKS SHOULD BE PUBLISHED”

July 8, 2021 - Giorgi Kapanadze, head of Georgian Young Businessmen and Financiers Association, considers that management of Georgian Power Exchange should publicize its schedule of planned works.

“Only in this way, i.e. by monitoring ongoing processes by interested representatives of society, it will be possible that, if not on January 1, 2022, than at least in late spring, it will be possible to launch the power exchange in full”, Kapanadze said.

companies

FORBES GEORGIA: “TOTAL INVESTMENTS, ATTRACTED BY GITA-FUNDED STARTUPS, EXCEED 150M LARI”

July 9, 2021 - Startups, financed by the Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA), attracted Georgian and foreign investments, exceeding 150 million lari in total, the magazine reports.

GITA reported that the most successful startup in terms of investment and profit is Pulsar AI, which was acquired by SpinCar, global company of digital sales systems in the automotive industry.




FORBES GEORGIA: ““WINERY NO. 1” IS EXPANDING – PLANS OF THE COMPANY”

July 8, 2021 - Winery No. 1, located in Tbilisi, is expanding and invests 30,000 lari in an open-type restaurant, the magazine reports.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “LANDSLIDE DESCENDED TO CONSTRUCTION SITE OF “METRA PARK” IN BAGEBI – CONSTRUCTION OF NEW COMPLEX BECAME IMPOSSIBLE”

July 7, 2021 - On July 5, a landslide descended near Metra Park, residential complex in Bagebi area of Tbilisi, the newspaper reports.

According to primary data, about 40,000 cubic m of earth collapsed, and the incident was estimated as a large-scale destruction.

finances & banking

TABULA: “NEW OBLIGATION FOR COMMERCIAL BANKS – NBG CREATES UNIFIED CREDIT REGISTER”

July 9, 2021 - National Bank of Georgia (NBG) creates a unified credit register, Tabula reports. By the 10^th day of each month, local financial organizations must submit information about loans and borrowers to NBG.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “KOBA GVENETADZE SPOKE ON REFORMS FOR CAPITAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT AT EBRD FORUM”

July 5, 2021 - Koba Gvenetadze, president of National Bank of Georgia (NBG), pointed that capital market development strategy covers internal reforms, integration in regional context and achievement of possible synergies.

Regarding internal reforms, Gvenetadze said that the capital market development strategy envisages expansion of the base of institutional investors, development of governmental and corporate securities market and further update of legislative and regulatory reforms.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “AT INTERNATIONAL FORUM, KOBA GVENETADZE SPOKE ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION”

July 5, 2021 - Koba Gvenetadze, president of National Bank of Georgia (NBG), points that development of innovations and financial technologies plays important role in financial accessibility.

2 years ago, in order to support financial technologies, the department of financial and supervisory technologies was created in NBG, Gvenetadze says and notes that digital bank framework was introduced to promote innovations in the banking sector.

construction

REZONANSI: “WHO WILL BENEFIT MORE FROM NEW PROGRAM OF MORTGAGE LOANS – BUILDERS OR YOUNG FAMILIES?”

July 7, 2021 - To those families, who are expecting a child and want to improve their living conditions, the state program “Produce in Georgia” will provide co-financing of mortgage interest. The subsidy rate for the first and second child will be 6%, while for the third and more – 8%.