The government’s campaign against intermediary companies is not a genuine economic reform but an attempt to conceal systemic failures, economist Giorgi Khishtovani said on TV-program Analytics.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said Georgia will import electricity from Azerbaijan and other neighboring countries without intermediaries, saving millions of GEL annually. Intermediaries have also been removed from Georgian Railway operations.
Khishtovani identified three reasons behind the move: political motives, geopolitical pressure and fiscal constraints. He argued that Kobakhidze wants to build an image as a fighter against corruption, while the growing importance of the Middle Corridor is forcing the government to address inefficiencies in transport and logistics.
He added that shrinking fiscal resources are making the existing system increasingly difficult to sustain, while higher electricity tariffs could fuel inflation and public discontent. Khishtovani said real reform requires liberalizing energy and transport markets and fostering competition, as the EU and IMF have long urged.
