Economic Press Monitor June 19 - 25, 2022	Days:  11 18 25 02 09

economic & politics

NETGAZETI.GE: “RATINGS THAT THE PRIME MINISTER DID NOT ENUMERATE TODAY”

June 24, 2022 - While speaking in the country’s Parliament on June 22, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili compared ratings, obtained by the country during 10-year rule of the Georgian Dream, with the indicators of Ukraine and Moldova.

However, the Prime Minister missed important political criteria that assess the quality of democratic development in the country, the article points.




TABULA: “PRESIDENT: DURING THESE 6 MONTHS, I WILL VETO ALL LAWS PASSED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION”

June 23, 2022 - On June 22, Georgia’s President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed the law on secret wiretapping. “I’m using a veto because this should be an indication that I disagree”, she declared.




TABULA: “ZURABISHVILI ON THE PREMIER’S SPEECH: THIS IS NOT GEORGIA, THIS IS NOT THE WILL OF GEORGIAN PEOPLE”

June 23, 2022 - Georgia’s President Salome Zurabishvili estimates that those, who listened to Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s speech in the Parliament, are “shocked and I am shocked too”.

“I want to send another message from here to Brussels that this is not Georgia, this is not the will of the Georgian people”, the President said at an extraordinary briefing on June 22.




NETGAZETI.GE: “HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE AT THE RALLY “HOME, TO EUROPE””

June 21, 2022 - Netgazeti.Ge calculated that the protest rally “Home, to Europe”, held on June 20 in Tbilisi in support of European integration, gathered from 120,000 to 160,000 people.

The article notes that throughout the day, representatives of Georgian authorities connected the rally with the opposition, but none of the members of political parties spoke at the rally.




TABULA: “HARTZELL: GEORGIA GOT A LESS FAVORABLE OPINION, WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY”

June 20, 2022 - “Georgia got a less favorable opinion compared to Moldova and Ukraine”, said the EU ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell regarding the country’s application for a status of EU membership candidate. “This is a message that must be taken seriously”, he stressed.




REZONANSI: “HOW DID “DREAM” TAKE RECOMMENDATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND WHY THE “CURTAIN’S RAISE” WAS NOT HAPPEN”

June 20, 2022 - On June 11, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili declared that if the EU’s decision on assigning to Georgia a status of candidate country for EU membership was unfair and insulting, he would “raise the curtain” on everything.

Despite the fact that the European Commission does not make recommendations on assigning Georgia the candidate status at this stage (by a document of June 17), the ruling Georgian Dream has changed its mind about “raising the curtain”, the newspaper points.




REZONANSI: “WHAT WILL FOLLOW THE RALLY ON JUNE 20 – WHAT CONCLUSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION DID CHANGE AND WHETHER PEOPLE WILL GO TO STREETS”

June 20, 2022 - The newspaper indicates that recommendations of the European Commission regarding assignment to Georgia of status of the EU membership candidate have caused growth of internal political confrontation in the country.

The opposition estimates that the fact that the European Commission is inclined to assign the status to Ukraine and Moldova, while only recognizes the European perspective in case of Georgia, means to miss a historic chance, full responsibility for which lies on the ruling team, the article says.




NETGAZETI.GE: “WHAT DO STATUSES OF GEORGIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE MEAN AND HOW DO THEY DIFFER | EXPLANATION”

June 20, 2022 - The European Commission supported the assignment of the status of a candidate country for EU membership for Moldova and Ukraine, with some conditions though. In turn, Georgia will have no candidate status yet, but there will be conditions, upon successful implementation of which the European Commission will return to the issue of Georgia, the article says.

macroeconomics & budget

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “GARIBASHVILI – TOGETHER WITH WB, WE LAUNCHED A PROJECT AND INVESTED 26M LARI IN GEORGIAN STARTUPS TO DATE”

June 24, 2022 - Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili declared that a project has been launched jointly with the World Bank, within the framework of which 26 million lari were invested in Georgian startups to date.

Last year, these startups attracted investments of more than 300 million lari, and their revenues for the past 12 months exceeded 30 million lari, the Premier said.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “PROGRAM “SOW THE FUTURE” FUNDED UNPROVIDED VINEYARDS WITH 294,800 LARI – AUDIT”

June 23, 2022 - The Georgian government decided not to fund from the state budget since March 2020 procurement of vine seedlings for winemaking and arrangement of irrigation systems in Kakheti region.

However, Georgian State Audit Service revealed that within the framework of the “Sow the Future” program, implemented by the Rural Development Agency, 3 beneficiaries were financed with 294,800 lari in total, which is an inappropriate expenditure, the newspaper reports.




REZONANSI: “BANKS, GOVERNMENT AND FINANCIERS CONFIRM THAT LARI WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THROUGHOUT THE YEAR”

June 22, 2022 - Against the background of Russia-Ukraine war, there were signs of depreciation of lari, but the exchange rate today is still stable and even strengthening, the newspaper says. Current official rate makes up 2.92 GEL/USD.

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “BAKERIES WILL GET GAS WITH DISCOUNT EVERYWHERE, EXCEPT TBILISI”

June 22, 2022 - From July 1, cost of natural gas for non-household consumers increases in Georgia both in Tbilisi (up to 1.35 lari per cubic m) and in regions (up to 1.38 lari).

SOCAR Georgia Gas, which supplies gas to regions, says that the tariff for mass producers of bread will be preferential and will make up 1.15 lari.




REZONANSI: “ALTERNATIVE PROJECT OF “KHUDONHES” WILL COMPLETELY CHANGE CREATED IMAGE OF GIANT HPPS”

June 21, 2022 - KhudonHES is the largest hydro project that the Georgian authorities have been trying to implement permanently during the past 30 years, the newspaper says.

Construction of the KhudonHES dam on the Enguri River was started as far back as 1986, but was suspended soon because of the expected environmental problems and against the background of mass wave of protests, the article notes.

companies

FORBES GEORGIA: “WITH SUPPORT OF “SAKARTVELOS BANKI”, “AXIS TOWERS” WERE OPENED”

June 22, 2022 - Axis Towers, a complex of 2 identical 41-floor skyscrapers, was opened on Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi on June 16.

Investments in the project amounted to about $150 million, $60 million of which were allocated by Sakartvelos Banki (Bank of Georgia), the magazine reports.




FORBES GEORGIA: “WITH SUPPORT OF “SAKARTVELOS BANKI”, $1.4M WAS INVESTED IN A BLUEBERRY PLANTATION IN GURIA”

June 21, 2022 - Company Nergi will arrange blueberry plantations on 18.2 ha in the village of Laituri (Guria region). Total cost of the project makes up $1.4 million, of which Sakartvelos Banki (Bank of Georgia) allocated $930,000.

international cooperation

FORBES GEORGIA: “JOINT PROGRAM OF “SAKARTVELOS BANKI”, USAID AND EFSE ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACADEMY FOR SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT”

June 24, 2022 - “Biz-Link”, the joint project of the USAID economic security program, EFSE Entrepreneurship Academy and Sakartvelos Banki (Bank of Georgia), involved 18 small and medium-sized businesses, magazine reported.

Within the framework of the project, the participant companies received information and advice on such topics as finance accessibility, identification and evaluation of export markets, financial management and reporting, financial and business planning.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “GENNADY ARVELADZE – “FIT FOR PARTNERSHIP” PROGRAM IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GEORGIAN ENTREPRENEURS TO ESTABLISH CLOSE CONTACTS AND PARTNERSHIP WITH GERMAN COMPANIES”

June 23, 2022 - Gennady Arveladze, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Hubert Knirsch, German ambassador to Georgia, signed a cooperation memorandum on launch of a qualification program for managers “Fit for Partnership”, the newspaper reports.

The training program, which has been implemented since 2016, is organized by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Impact (BMWK) and the German Society for International Development (GIZ).

ecology & health

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “ARCHIL MORCHILADZE – IN TOTAL VOLUME OF PAID MEDICINES, SHARE OF MEDICINES IMPORTED FROM TURKEY IS STILL INSIGNIFICANT AND REMAINS WITHIN 3%”

June 22, 2022 - On Georgian health insurance market, “The situation in the corporate segment has been somehow settled”, says Archil Morchiladze, founder of Georgian Insurance Group. “The main challenge remains the lack of full-fledged individual insurance”, he points in an interview with the newspaper.




REZONANSI: “WASTE MANAGEMENT BUSINESS ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED, WHICH WILL HAVE TO SOLVE IMPORTANT ISSUES SOON”

June 21, 2022 - Georgian companies, engaged in oil-products and cars industries, have established a Business Association for Waste Management, the newspaper reports. At this stage, the Association unites more than 20 companies.