Georgia’s economy is stronger and more efficient, says PM Garibashvili

Looking back at the achievements of the past two years, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili believed the key successes of his Government was making Georgia’s economy stronger and more efficient and ensuring financial institutions were more credible and successful.

He summarised the country’s current economic state compared to two years ago when ruling Georgian Dream coalition came into power at a special briefing today at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel in Tbilisi. Garibashvili believed the success of the economy was proven by recent positive affirmations of Georgia’s economic stability by global financial and rating agencies.

"Georgia’s economic growth rate is six percent. According to the World Bank's 2014 report, Georgia is [ranked] first place in terms of economic growth in the region and in second place among the member countries of the World Bank,” Garibashvili said in his speech, which summarised his Government’s work since winning the elections on October 1, 2012.

He also stressed that global ratings agency Fitch Ratings affirmed Georgia's credit ratings at "BB-", and advanced the outlook from "Stable” to "Positive” last week.

PM Garibashvili spoke about the increase of exports from 2012 to 2014 and stressed that total exports had increased by 24 percent in comparison to 2012. Similarly, exports had increased with the European Union (EU) by 70 percent and a staggering 534 percent with Russia.

"The figures are really impressive however there is still a lot of work to do in order to develop the economy and create new jobs,” Garibashvili said.

He believed the primary political decision that the current Government had taken in this direction was releasing businesses from the pressure of authority.

"Before coming into power, political pressure was the main reason that created so many problems in Georgia’s economy. The whole attitude has now changed,” PM Garibashvili said.

The Georgian leader was confident his Government had created a favourable business environment where the private sector can now achieve long-term development.

He also believed development of the production sector was the main pre-condition for economic development, which would guarantee the creation of new jobs. In his speech PM Garibashvili discussed the Government-led a 46 million GEL ($27 million USD) program called ‘Produce in Georgia’, which aimed to recover the country’s production industry and improve Georgia’s economic future after years of being severely hampered.

The Government has already approved 25 new projects within the ‘Produce in Georgia' scheme. Some of the new businesses were agricultural and industrial enterprises, including in the greenhouse industry, a cattle-breeding facility, a poultry-raising factory, a second-hand paper production mill as well as construction materials production and a pharmacy.

"‘Produce in Georgia’ is my dream project. This [offers] support to Georgia’s production sector without which our economy could not move forward. Opening local enterprises are vital for the Georgian people. From this project I expect new businesses will open and recover traditional production,” Garibashvili said.

He believed the development of Georgia’s agriculture sector was the "primary sector for country’s economic development”. Today’s event was attended by high officials from the Government and the private sector.