Economic Press Monitor May 17 - 23, 2020	Days:  09 16 23 30 06

economic & politics

TABULA: “DONOR COMPANIES OF RULING PARTY IN FOOD PROCUREMENTS – IDFI RESEARCH”

May 22, 2020 - Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) estimates that contracts on COVID-19-related simplified state procurements both in case of medical equipment and in case of food, were signed in a number of cases with donor companies of ruling Georgian Dream.

Besides, contracts with single supplier are frequent in case of municipalities.




TABULA: “TDI ON WOODS’ HANDOVER TO PATRIARCHY: WE URGE THE PARLIAMENT NOT TO SUPPORT”

May 22, 2020 - Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) urges Georgian Parliament not to support the bill, which allows handover of the state woods to Georgian Patriarchy. Respective amendments will be made in Forest Code and law “On State Property”.




NETGAZETI.GE: “ZELENSKY APPOINTED LEVAN VARSHALOMIDZE AS HEAD OF INVESTMENT OFFICE”

May 21, 2020 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed former chairman of the Ajara government Levan Varshalomidze as head of new structure, investment office, Netgazeti.Ge reports with reference to Ukrainian news agency UNIAN. The office will start operation in this September.




TABULA: “KELLY DEGNAN: THERE IS BIG INTEREST IN THE US TO AGREEMENT ON FREE TRADE WITH GEORGIA”

May 21, 2020 - Kelly Degnan, the US ambassador in Georgia, said that “in the direction of the free trade agreement, we considered various possibilities; certainly, interest in this direction is quite big”.

“However, such trade negotiations, which are already started, are underway at this stage and, probably, it is a priority, though possibility of consideration of this subject in the US exists”, the ambassador declared in a format of videoconference.




TABULA: “KHUNDADZE: THE GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE THE RIGHT TO REGULATE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL LOCATIONS WITHOUT STATE OF EMERGENCY”

May 18, 2020 - Dmitry Khundadze, head of Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Healthcare and Social Issues, declared that the government has to have the right to regulate crisis on concrete epidemiological locations without introduction of state of emergency.

The matter concerns restrictions of various activities, for example, passenger transportations, work of food objects, shopping centers and markets.




TABULA: “UGULAVA: IF WE WANT TO EXIT ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, POLITICAL CHANGES ARE NEEDED”

May 18, 2020 - Gigi Ugulava, leader of oppositional European Georgia, says that Georgian economy “has and will have serious problems” after COVID-19 pandemic. However, “After 8 years [in power], the government is unable to carry out necessary changes”, he considers.




REZONANSI: “LIFTING STATE OF EMERGENCY DOES NOT MEAN RETURN OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMY TO FORMER COURSE”

May 18, 2020 - Paata Bayrakhtari, vice-president of Georgian Young Financiers and Businessmen Association, declares that lift of the state of emergency (after May 22) in Georgia (imposed since March 21 because of COVID-19 pandemic) “does not mean that everything will return to the former course”. “We do not know still, whether regulation will remain, which considerably hamper economic activity”, he specifies.

macroeconomics & budget

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “LEVAN DAVITASHVILI: MORE INVESTMENTS HAVE TO BE MADE IN AGRICULTURE”

May 20, 2020 - Georgia’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Levan Davitashvili considers that “more investments have to be spent in agriculture”. “I think, the government will have readiness for this”, he declared on air of Public Broadcaster.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “FOR WHAT ASSISTANCE OF 73.1M EUR, ALLOCATED TO GEORGIA BY RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT BANK, WILL BE SPENT”

May 20, 2020 - Georgia’s Deputy Finance Minister Giorgi Kakauridze explains, how 73.1 million EUR, allocated by EBRD to Georgia, will be distributed.

According to Kakauridze, 29 million EUR will be directed to healthcare, while remained sum – to social assistance.




FORBES GEORGIA: “HOW WE HAVE TO LIVE TOMORROW? NEW BREATH FOR ECONOMY”

May 20, 2020 - The magazine publishes thoughts of Mamuka Khazaradze, leader of oppositional political association Lelo for Georgia and founder of Georgia’s largest TBC Bank, concerning economic recovery. Lelo developed an anti-crisis plan of 6 billion lari, which envisages mobilization of only domestic resources, he declares.




REZONANSI: “IN THE END OF THE YEAR, FOREIGN DEBT WILL ESSENTIALLY APPROACH THE DANGEROUS MARK”

May 19, 2020 - Georgia’s external debt, according to official statistics, totals as of December 31, 2019 to $18.6 billion, or 53.4 billion lari.

Economist Soso Simonishvili considers that the country will approach in the next years the threshold of 60% (set for ratio of public debt to GDP by Georgian legislation).




NETGAZETI.GE: “THE UN ALLOCATES $1M TO GEORGIA”

May 18, 2020 - The UN allocates $1 million to Georgia for response to COVID-19 pandemic, Netgazeti.Ge reports.

According to the UN representation in Georgia, Georgia is among those first 46 countries, which will receive financing from the UN Trust Fund.

energy, oil & gas

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “GIORGI CHIKOVANI: “ONIHES” COULD REPLACE 31% OF ELECTRIC POWER IMPORTED IN 2019”

May 20, 2020 - Giorgi Chikovani, director of Georgian Energy Development Fund, indicates that generation of OniHES series of hydroelectric stations will total to 780 million kWh, making up about 6% of the country’s annual consumption.

“However, during the period, when we carry out import of electric power, if we had OniHES in 2019, it could replace 31% of the import”, he declared on air of TV company Imedi.

companies

FORBES GEORGIA: “RATING OF GEORGIAN WINE AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES PRODUCERS”

May 21, 2020 - The magazine publishes rating of Georgian manufacturing wine and alcoholic beverages producer companies, based on financial data for 2018. The rating is confirmed by consulting companies Grant Thornton and Ebit Group.

transport & communications

FORBES GEORGIA: “EBRD ALLOCATES CREDIT OF 10M EUR TO “SAKAERONAVIGATSIA””

May 19, 2020 - EBRD allocates credit of 10 million EUR to Georgian state company Sakaeronavigatsia (Georgian Air Navigation), the magazine reports.

As the article notes, this resource will assist the company to overcome shocks, caused by COVID-19 pandemic, and to raise its liquid assets.

ecology & health

NETGAZETI.GE: “IN WHAT CASE PUBLIC TRANSPORT WILL BE RESTORED – KHATUNA ZAKHASHVILI”

May 22, 2020 - Khatuna Zakhashvili, head of the department at Georgian Center for Disease Control, stated that “restoration of public transport will depend on epidemiological situation”. She said this on air of TV company Imedi.

finances & banking

REZONANSI: “SINCE JUNE, BANKING CREDITS WILL BE POSTPONED ONLY FOR THOSE, WHO LOST INCOME”

May 21, 2020 - The first stage of 3-month postponement of credit payment, offering to clients by Georgian banks, expires on May 31. It is unknown so far, to whom privileges would be prolonged, but emphasis will be placed on those borrowers, who lost their income, the newspaper says.




FORBES GEORGIA: “DISTINGUISHED “LIBERTY””

May 19, 2020 - The magazine reports that Georgia’s third largest Liberty Bank works on new strategy. As the article indicates, the development strategy covers portfolio diversification, steps in the direction of support of micro, small and medium businesses.




REZONANSI: “BANKS WILL PROLONG GRACE PERIOD ON CREDITS FOR 1-2 MONTHS?”

May 19, 2020 - Roman Kakulia, chairman of Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Branch Economy and Economic Policy, does not exclude that banks will prolong a grace period on the credits (postponement of payments) for 1-2 months. “However, we have to estimate the banks’ ability to do this, proceeding from what type of loss they were inflicted”, he declares.