We have launched a new periodic publication entitled Employment Tracker, in collaboration with Jobs.ge. The tracker produces valuable insights into the Georgian labor market as it lays out the trajectory of employment and salaries, most demanded job categories, and expectations of specific economic sectors regarding their employment plans. 

The number of international travelers increased by 249.2% in December 2021, compared to the same period of 2020, and declined by 73.3% compared to the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of international visitors increased by 226.4% (2021/2020) and declined by 69.9% (2021/2019), and the number of international tourists increased by 239.1% (2021/2020) and declined by 53.7% (2021/2019).

In this issue, we provide an overview of the ongoing economic recovery in Ukraine and try to supply an economic forecast for the country for 2022, looking at the performance of each economic sector in the process.

International rankings and indicators help us to understand and assess how countries are performing in different areas. In this bulletin, Ukraine’s positions in international rankings and the dynamics therein are reviewed based on recent data. Its positions will also be compared with other Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova).

The paper reviews the existing academic and policy literature and analyses the current structure of the wholesale electricity market in Georgia to identify different prices and payment schemes. Moreover, it also identifies some fundamental issues that are inherent in the structure of the ongoing wholesale electricity market in Georgia and highlights some challenges that need resolving to strengthen the security of supply in the electricity market.

In Georgia, the year-over-year (YoY) Consumer Price Index (CPI), has proved relatively similar to global trends, as in December 2020 the inflation rate showed a significant decline of 4.6 percentage points compared to December 2019, reaching 2.4%, major decrease (25.4 pp) in prices coming from “housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” category, which can be explained by the introduction of utility subsidies for households from November 2020 and plummeting global oil prices in the middle of 2020.

According to a survey of Georgian economists, the economic climate in the country in the fourth quarter of 2021 has improved compared to the third quarter of the same year, as well as compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, with respect to the current situation, the Georgian economists’ appraisal was again positive and has improved compared to both: the previous quarter this year and the corresponding quarter of the last year. 

Georgia became one of the best performers in the world according to international indices on doing business and openness to investments, and recorded substantial growth in FDI, especially in the period of 2014-2017. However, those reforms have not been sufficient to ensure a prolonged steady inflow of FDI nor have they maximized the potential gains from foreign investment.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to represent a major economic shock, causing considerable inflation volatility. The pandemic has been responsible for a substantial decline in inflation rates over the course of 2020 globally. However, this trend underwent a significant reversal in the first half of 2021. In this issue, we overview inflation trends in Ukraine prior to and during the COVID-19 crisis..

A year and a half since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the world has entered a new phase in which the race to vaccinate is shaping the path for post-pandemic recovery and economic growth. In this bulletin, we review the dynamics of the virus spread and the extent of the economic recovery being achieved by the countries of the Black Sea region..