The obsession of hydropower may have obscured other green energy options for Georgia. For one thing, investment in hydro is not happening as fast as could have been expected a few years ago. But, much more importantly, the bulk of hydropower would be in any case generated in the summer, when Georgia does not need as much of it. The surplus electricity is supposed to be exported to Turkey. But why destroy pristine landscapes and interfere with fragile ecosystems for the sake of exporting electricity to Turkey? Has anybody ever tried to answer the question...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Apr
27
Apr
23
There is no arguing that during the ten years since the Rose Revolution, the Georgian economy registered an impressive growth performance, averaging 6.6% per annum. Summing up Georgia’s post-2004 growth experience, a recent ISET-PI study (Babych and Fuenfzig (2012)), finds it “remarkable not only in light of the 5.3 percent average growth rate in the 1995-2002 period, but also considering that the average GDP growth rate for European and Central Asian developing countries was about 5.1 percent in the period between 2003-2010.”
Yet behind the gliste...
Apr
17
“Fast and furious... Soviet-style: Crazy stunt drivers of Georgia try to impress Hollywood by speeding through crowded public streets.” The clip, uploaded by the team of would-be-stunts has reportedly received 2million YouTube views in a week. While supposedly there is no such thing as bad publicity, Georgia may find the hard way that this is not an iron clad rule.
With very low levels of domestic savings and no oil and gas resources at hand, Georgia can only achieve higher productivity levels by borrowing abroad and increasing the quantity and qual...
Apr
15
Development of municipal services and infrastructure, in particular transportation infrastructure, is one of the pillars of the State Strategy on the Regional Development of Georgia for the period 2010 to 2017. Even though the strategy was approved by the previous government, the new government is not only committed to continuing all the planned infrastructural projects but is also going to start new projects, focusing on upgrading the regional infrastructure. According to the planned budget for 2013, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructu...
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