Miranda Manajgaladze, Chairman of the Board of the Retail Association, explains that Georgia buys products from international companies, which are produced in Russia.
“Georgian economy's dependence on Russia is not due to the fact that we buy Russian products, Georgia imports products of international companies, which have enterprises and operate there”, -said the chairman of the board of the Retail Association.
According to her, international companies choose the Russian market for several reasons, including market size, cheap labor forces, availability of raw materials, etc. As Miranda Manjgaladze says, the business makes pragmatic decisions and politics has a minimal role there. According to her, logistics from Russia is also much cheaper. Due to the Russian invasion to Ukraine, a number of international brands refused to operate on Russian territory, and now they are looking for other locations to establish. Miranda Manjgaladze says that after the rearrangement the products will probably become more expensive.
"International companies have closed their enterprises in Russia, now they are moving elsewhere, and it takes time. When they move to an alternative location – we will move to another location as well, including Europe.
I welcome this fact, but business expenditures in Europe are high (salary, rent, etc.), so when international companies will leave the Russian market, the price of products is expected to rise," said Miranda Manjgaladze.
