Economic Press Monitor October 7 - 13, 2018	Days:  29 06 13 20 27

economic & politics

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “THE HIGHEST PAID OFFICIAL LEFT THE POST”

October 12, 2018 - Sulkhan Zumburidze, chairman of executive board of Georgian State Electrosystem, left his post, the newspaper reports.

As the article notes, Zumburidze held this post since 2017, and was the highest paid official in the country, having annual remuneration of 341,700 lari.




TABULA: “FORMER MANAGER OF “RMG” WILL BE TEMPORARILY THE CHIEF OF THE FINANCE MINISTRY’S INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE”

October 12, 2018 - Chief of the Finance Ministry’s Investigative Service Levan Gamkrelidze submitted his resignation, Tabula reports. He held the office since June 2017, while worked in 2014-2015 in State Security Service.




TABULA: “WHAT IS WRITTEN IN LEVAN KIPIANI’S TESTIMONY TO PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE”

October 11, 2018 - Georgian Main Prosecutor’s Office published protocol of interrogation of ex-minister of sport Levan Kipiani, in which the latter declares that his and Zaza Okuashvili’s (founder of Omega Group) conversation in hidden audio recording is totally staged. Besides, records spread in media were “totally re-edited”, he claims.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “ZURABISHVILI ON ONE MILLION LARI, TAKEN FROM “CARTU” BANK – I AM NOT GOING TO PAY INTEREST AS I WILL TAKE 70% ON ELECTIONS”

October 10, 2018 - Presidential candidate Salome Zurabishvili, who is backed by ruling Georgian Dream, declares: “I am not going to pay interest on the credit, as I will take not 10%, but 70% on elections”.

Thus Zurabishvili answered journalists’ question about credit of 1 million lari, taken from Cartu bank (belongs to family of Bidzina Ivanishvili, billionaire leader of Georgian Dream).




FORBES GEORGIA: “WB: IN TERMS OF FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION, GEORGIA IS ON THE 48^TH PLACE IN THE WORLD”

October 10, 2018 - According to research of the World Bank (WB) on the World Governance Indicators, Georgia in terms of fight against corruption is on the 19^th position among the European countries, the magazine reports.

The article specifies that Georgia’s score in corruption control makes up 77.4% from possible 100%, which corresponds to the 48^th position in the world.




TABULA: “BIDZINA IVANISHVILI LENDED 1M FROM “CARTU BANK” TO SALOME ZURABISHVILI”

October 9, 2018 - Referring to State Audit Service, Tabula reports that presidential candidate Salome Zurabishvili, who is backed by the ruling Georgian Dream, has borrowed 1 million lari from bank Cartu, belonging to family of Bidzina Ivanishvili (billionaire leader of Georgian Dream).

The transaction took place on October 1.




REZONANSI: “PARTSKHALADZE BREAKS SILENCE AND PLANS COOPERATION WITH INVESTIGATION”

October 8, 2018 - Former chief prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze denies charges of Zaza Okuashvili, founder of Omega Group, and claims that he has no relation to case of this company, the newspaper reports.

Referring to statement, made by Partskhaladze’s lawyer, the article reports that former prosecutor plans to cooperate with investigation and is ready to arrive for interrogation.




KVIRIS PALITRA: “PARTSKHALADZE WILL DETAIN PARTSKHALADZE?”

October 8, 2018 - Commenting on accusations against of authorities, made by founder of Omega Group Zaza Okuashvili, lawyer Lia Mukhashavria says in an interview to the newspaper that “Okuashvili tries to bargain with these records in order to return his business”. Okuashvili “paid the sum, requested from him, but it appeared insufficient”, she considers.

macroeconomics & budget

REZONANSI: “THE GOVERNMENT PLANS TO RESTORE THE LARGE-SCALE PROGRAM OF RURAL SUPPORT”

October 12, 2018 - The government plans to restore in 2019 the program of rural support, the newspaper reports. Budget of the program, on which the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure is working, is not defined yet.




REZONANSI: “20 TETRI FROM EACH 1 LARI ARE USED FOR DEBTS’ SERVICING”

October 10, 2018 - Draft of Georgia’s budget-2019 envisages growth of the country’s debt by 1.22 billion lari in the next year, the newspaper reports. The article specifies that liabilities, subject to undertake in 2019, total to 2.16 billion lari, including internal debt of 500 million lari and external debt of 1.66 billion lari (the volumes do not include liabilities’ payment during the year).

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “GEORGIA CAN “HANG” ON THE RUSSIAN GAS”

October 10, 2018 - Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation forecasts that Georgia’s gas consumption in 2030 will exceed 3.5 billion cubic m a year. That means growth of gas consumption by 50%, the newspaper points.




REZONANSI: “RIGHT AFTER ADOPTION OF THE BUDGET FOR 2019, ELECTRICITY, GAS AND WATER TARIFFS WILL RAISE”

October 9, 2018 - In 2019, growth of electricity, gas and water tariffs is expected, the newspaper states. The article explains that the budget-2019 is drafted in assumption of exchange rate of 2.63 GEL/USD that exceeds the current level by 13 points.




TABULA: ““KAZTRANSGAS-TBILISI” IS SOLD – BUYER IS GEORGIAN BUSINESS GROUP”

October 9, 2018 - New owner of Tbilisi gas distributor company KazTransGas-Tbilisi became offshore company Waltbay, a part of Georgia-registered LLC CBS, Tabula reports.

According to CBS, acquisition of KazTransGas-Tbilisi by means of the offshore company was conducted in order to simplify a technical part of the deal and in nearest future, the gas distributor will be handed over to Georgia-registered company.

conflict and court

NETGAZETI.GE: “FOR WHAT JIBLADZE PAID THE BRIBE? – LILUASHVILI, KALADZE AND NARMANIA ANSWER TO DIRECTOR OF “SVETI””

October 9, 2018 - Referring to Rustavi-2 TV company, Netgazeti.Ge reports that Givi Jibladze, director of construction company Sveti, declared that Grigol Liluashvili, deputy of former mayor of Tbilisi (David Narmania), had secured issuing of construction permits to Sveti in exchange for share in the company.

Jibladze specified that among 18 residential buildings, being under construction in Tbilisi, permissions were issued to only 3, while the others had to be issued periodically.




KVIRIS PALITRA: “UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTIONS “HIDE” FROM THE CITY HALL FOR TWO YEARS?”

October 8, 2018 - After loud case of Center Point, heads of another construction company ended up behind the bars, while flat-owners – actually on the street, the newspaper says. The matter concerns arrest on October 3 of founder of construction company Sveti Givi Jibladze and director general of this company Tornike Janelidze.

agriculture & food

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “BACHIASHVILI: AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS IS QUITE COMPLEX IN GEORGIA, AS THE MARKET IS OPEN FOR ANY IMPORT”

October 12, 2018 - Giorgi Bachiashvili, director general of Georgian Co-Investment Fund, declared that “agricultural business is quite complex in Georgia, as the country lacks modern examination and at the same time, the market is open for any import, which often is directly or indirectly subsidized by neighboring countries”. He declared the mentioned on air of Public Broadcaster.

construction

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “IVANISHVILI’S FUND BUILDS 4-STAR HOTEL IN SIGNAGI, WHICH INVESTMENT VOLUME MAKES UP $21M”

October 11, 2018 - Within project of Georgian Tourism Development Fund, 4-star hotel with 130 rooms will be built in Signagi (Kakheti region), the newspaper reports. Investment cost of the project makes up $21 million.




FORBES GEORGIA: “THE MOST EXPENSIVE DISTRICTS OF TBILISI”

October 11, 2018 - In comparison with the 1^st quarter, the real estate market did not become considerably more active in the 2^nd quarter, however in comparison with the same period of 2018, growth made up 22.7%, the magazine reports. Total number of property sales made 30,264.