Prompted by the Georgian Government's recent decision to select a Chinese company for the implementation of the Anaklia Deep Sea Port project, ISET-PI’s recent policy note (July 11, 2024) provides useful insights into China's ascent as the largest bilateral creditor for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), its lending practices and case studies, with that background analyses the risks associated with the Anaklia project and provides recommendations. Here is a summary of the main findings.

In July 2024, the average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri was 5.78 GEL, reflecting a 2.9% decrease compared to June 2024. On an annual basis, the price remained nearly unchanged, with a slight decline of 0.04% compared to July 2023.

Tbilisi recently hosted an International Conference commemorating the 105th Anniversary of the National Statistical Office of Georgia (Geostat) and the 25th Anniversary of Collecting Gender Statistics. The two-day event, themed "Accelerating Progress Towards Inclusive Development Through Gender Statistics," was organized by Geostat and UN Women.

For the countries in the South Caucasus, health hidden costs amount to 87%, 88%, and 92% of the total quantified hidden costs of agri-food systems. In terms of the share in GDP, they subsequently comprise 18%, 16%, and 22%, respectively.

Geostat has published its preliminary estimate of real GDP growth for May 2024, which stands at 9.2%. In addition, the estimated growth for the first quarter of 2024 reached 8.4%, which is 0.6 ppt higher than the previous estimate. As a result, the average real GDP growth for January - May 2024 reached 9.3%.