The Business Association of Georgia has completed its BAG Index survey, showing that the business climate indicator reached 42.5 points in the first quarter of 2026. This marks a significant improvement of 10.8 points compared to the same period last year, driven by both better current conditions (+15.3 points) and improved expectations for the next six months (+4.9 points).
Despite the positive trend, 55% of surveyed companies still identify a shortage of qualified specialists as their main challenge, although the issue has eased by 10 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. Legal and administrative barriers, as well as labor shortages, have also declined by 14 and 13 percentage points respectively.
The shortage of skilled professionals is felt most acutely in the construction and services sectors. For construction and trade companies, regulatory barriers and limited access to financial resources also remain key obstacles to business activity.
At the same time, business sentiment regarding investment is improving. In the first quarter of 2026, 65% of companies expect to increase their total investment volumes compared to 2025, with the most optimistic outlook recorded in industry (81%), followed by services and trade (61% each), and construction (60%).
