Economic Press Monitor November 21 - 27, 2021	Days:  13 20 27 04 11

economic & politics

REZONANSI: “OBTAINING DRIVING LICENSE, ALONG WITH COMPLICATION, BECOMES VERY EXPENSIVE”

November 26, 2021 - From April 25, 2022, a component of street driving is added to the driving license exam, which cost will make up 90 lari (single pass), the newspaper reports. The cost of the theoretical exam does not change, remaining 40 lari.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “CHARAIA: WEAKNESS OF OUR ECONOMY IS NOT ONLY IN THE SMALL SCALE, LOW PURCHASING POWER AND SIMILAR ISSUES, BUT ALSO IN THE LACK OF COMPETITION, EVEN IN THE MOST DEVELOPED FIELDS”

November 26, 2021 - “I really don’t want Georgia’s economy to be dominated by tourism in future, but to be known for production and services based on knowledge and technology”, says economic expert Vakhtang Charaia. “Only this way it is possible to achieve a significantly improved standard of living”, he believes.




NETGAZETI.GE: “WHY MEDICINES RISE IN PRICE”

November 25, 2021 - The article says that price of medicines has been steadily increasing in Georgian pharmacy chains for years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that average share of out-of-pocket payments in Georgian healthcare makes up 48%, which is 18% higher than the European countries’ average.




FORBES GEORGIA: “WHAT DOES THE PRIVATE SECTOR THINK ABOUT ENACTMENT OF “GREEN PASSPORTS”?”

November 25, 2021 - From December 1, so-called “green passports” will be enacted in Georgia, which will be required from persons over the age of 18. A person receives the “green” status, if he/she has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in case of presence of valid results of PCR test or antigen test, or if he/she has recovered from COVID-19.




REZONANSI: “GARIBASHVILI AGAINST PHARMACY DRUG ADDICTION – WHAT RESTRICTIONS SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM THE AUTHORITIES”

November 24, 2021 - “Our young people, instead of being engaged in sports, education and employment, are busy with consuming harmful substances”, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili pointed. “That’s why, sale of psychotropic substances should be toughened and I will personally follow-up on the enforcement process”, he declared.




REZONANSI: “TAXES ARE VERY MEAGER, AND ALMOST NOTHING ENTERS THE BUDGET FROM GAMBLING BUSINESS”

November 24, 2021 - Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is putting forward an initiative to raise taxes for online casino owners, tighten players’ age limit and prohibit advertising. Then, at the second stage, online casinos should be prohibited at all, the newspaper reports, noting that the government is going to work actively on this issue with Parliament.




TABULA: “GARIBASHVILI: WORK IS UNDERWAY ON HOW TO TURN GEORGIA INTO LUXEMBOURG OF THE EAST”

November 24, 2021 - “Work is underway on a road-map on how to turn Georgia into Luxembourg of the East”, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili declared on the air of Georgian Public Broadcaster. “We will make concrete proposals and packages in this regard very soon”, he noted.




NETGAZETI.GE: “GARIBASHVILI WAS NOT AN AUTHORITY FOR ME – IVANISHVILI DURING LITIGATION WITH “CREDIT SUISSE””

November 22, 2021 - TV company Formula spread video, dated of November 18-19, in which Georgia’s former premier, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili speaks about Georgia’s current Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, while testifying online in Bermuda court in the framework of his litigation with Credit Suisse.

As the article notes, Garibashvili, who was Ivanishvili’s assistant, had attended signing of those contracts with Credit Suisse, because of which, as Ivanishvili claims, he lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

macroeconomics & budget

TABULA: “CITY HALL HAD TO REPAIR GOTSIRIDZE SUBWAY IN 3 MONTHS, BUT THE STATION HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR 9 MONTHS”

November 26, 2021 - Waste Detector (media project of non-governmental organization Governance Monitoring Center (GMC)) reported that reconstruction of the capital’s subway station Gotsiridze was to be carried out by Georgian branch of foreign company (Azerbaijani Kaizen).

For that end, Tbilisi Transport Company has signed with the branch a contract worth 3.15 million lari.




FORBES GEORGIA: “IN TERMS OF NATIONAL INCOME PER CAPITA, GEORGIA RANKS 108^TH IN THE WORLD”

November 25, 2021 - Referring to the World Bank data for 2020, the magazine reports that Georgia ranks 108^th among 190 countries in terms of national income per capita ($4,290). At that, the country ranked 112^th in 2019, despite the fact that the income was higher ($4,780).




REZONANSI: “LARI IS EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN EVEN MORE – “WE MADE NATIONAL BANK TO CHANGE ITS POLICY””

November 24, 2021 - In recent period, lari exchange rate has changed behavior from stabilization to strengthening and fluctuates now within 3.11 GEL/USD, the article says.

Doctor of economics Gocha Tutberidze points that “fundamental factors do not indicate that lari exchange rate should depreciate”.




BATUMELEBI: “BATUMI CITY HALL SELLS HISTORIC BUILDING AND LAND NEARBY TO DOLPHINARIUM”

November 22, 2021 - Batumi City Hall plans to bring building and land plot, located nearby to the dolphinarium, to term auction, Batumelebi reports. Starting price makes up 6.87 million lari.

energy, oil & gas

REZONANSI: “GREEDY APPETITE OF SEPARATISTS HAS BEEN CURBED AT LAST – ELECTRICITY OF “ENGURHES” WILL BE DISTRIBUTED FROM DECEMBER ACCORDING TO 60/40 PRINCIPLE”

November 26, 2021 - Levan Mebonia, chairman of board of Georgia’s largest hydroelectric station EngurHES, reported that by the end of the year, electricity generated by EngurHES will be distributed as it was previously agreed. In particular, 40% will be intended for Russia-occupied Abkhazia, and 60% for the rest of Georgia.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “GEORGIA HAS REDUCED IMPORT OF AZERBAIJANI GAS”

November 22, 2021 - The article noted that in January-October, Georgia imported 1.08 million t of gas from Azerbaijan worth $162.86 million (supposedly, the matter concerns liquefied gas, LPG). In monetary terms, import decreased by 20.4%, while in natural expression – by 15.05%.




TABULA: “IN 10 YEARS, ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN GEORGIA WILL GROW BY 62% – FORECAST”

November 22, 2021 - Middle-way scenario of Georgian State Electrosystem sees growth of electricity consumption in the country by 62.1% in 10 years, Tabula reports. In particular, according to the forecast, consumption will grow from 13.2 billion kWh in 2021 to 21.4 billion kWh in 2031.