We recently started collaborating with Gori City Hall with the purpose of enhancing the resilience of its system against corruption, in line with the 2020-2025 Decentralization Strategy of Georgia, the national anticorruption framework and an OECD recommendation.

We are delighted to welcome Mr. Roni Kvatchadze, a professional with 10 years of experience in public and non-governmental sectors, to our team as an Energy, Environment and Finance Management Consultant.  

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Shalva Khutsishvili to our team, as our Senior Consultant in the field of public security. We extend a warm welcome to Mr. Khutsishvili, who brings with him more than 17 years of sound experience of working in the public sector and of collaboration with international development institutions.  

The local action group (LAG) of Mestia municipality recently launched a new charity initiative with the purpose of supporting vulnerable groups residing in Upper Svaneti to overcome challenges presented by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

  The year of 2019 proved to be a busy one, with opportunities grasped and challenges overcome. We implemented various interesting projects, each of which made a telling impact. Meanwhile, as existing partnerships were strengthened, we established exciting new ones as well. Specifically, we made notable strides forward in Ukraine where we increased our representation and intensified our work. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, our excellent team has been complemented by the addition of new people with diverse and invaluable expertise.

In Georgia, the average cost of a room in a 3-star hotel was 128 GEL per night in April 2020. While the average cost of a room in a 4-star hotel in Georgia was 209 GEL per night and the average cost of a room in a guesthouse was 68 GEL per night. The average cost of a room in a 5-star hotel in Georgia in April 2020 was 343 GEL per night. In Tbilisi, the average price was 566 GEL, followed by Kakheti - 320 GEL, Adjara – 258 GEL and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti - 199 GEL.

Unemployment has remained one of the prioritised issues in Georgian economy since its independence. Moreover, Georgian economy was characterised with high unemployment rates even during periods of economic upturn prior to 2008 global financial crisis. COVID-19 is likely to impact job market and income of people employed, therefore, it is important to consider their pre-pandemic state. This bulletin overviews the unemployment and income figures of 2016-2019. The period of 2016-2019 is characterised with significant trends and issues such as: • Growth in average monthly incomes;• Slight decrease in unemployment rate;• Increased share of hired individuals in labor force;• Slight decrease of share of self-employed individuals in labor force.

PMC Research forecasts that budget deficit as a % of GDP will increase from 3.1% to 9.8% in the optimistic scenario, while in the less pessimistic and very pessimistic scenarios it will amount to 11.2% and 14.1%, respec­tively.                                         Recommendations: Planned budget spending should be reprioritized to provide space for COVID-19-related expenditure; Fiscal measures should be targeted to assist the hardest-hit households and firms. The government should ignore lobbying pressure from different sectors and businesses seeking benefit from fiscal policy package; Effective public financial management is key to safeguarding against fiscal risks and enhancing the Government’s capacity to respond to the crisis.

If the optimistic scenario proves true, Georgia’s real economy is expected to shrink by 4.3%. The Georgian economy is expected to decrease by 8% in case of less pessimistic scenario, while in the event of the very pessimistic scenario, the expected fall is 12.9%.  In the optimistic scenario, Georgia’s real GDP growth is expected to drop by 0.43% every week, while the weekly loss is more pronounced for the less pessimistic (-0.47%) and very pessimistic (-0.5%) scenarios respectively. The experiences of some European countries should be taken into account in the process of phased lifting of the restrictive measures.

Interview with Aleksi Aleksishvili, Chairman and CEO at PMCG about the most important components, necessary to successfully introduce reforms for World Review magazine, published by Diplomat and the New York Times.

In the second quarter of 2020, Georgian economic climate has significantly worsened. In this period, Georgian economists assessed Georgia’s present economic situation negatively; Moreover, the assessment of present economic situation in this quarter has worsened drastically compared to the first quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2019. In the second quarter of 2020, Georgia’s economic situation in the next six months has also been assessed negatively by Georgian economists. Furthermore, expectations in the next six months have deteriorated rapidly compared with both, first quarter of 2020 and second quarter of 2019.

The average cost of a room in a 5-star hotel in Georgia in March 2020 was 274 GEL per night. In Mtskheta-Mtianeti, the average price was 779 GEL (only one 5-star hotel), followed by Tbilisi - 396 GEL, Samtskhe-Javakheti – 339 GEL and Guria - 331 GEL.