The biggest challenge is inflation - CEO of BOG
Archil Gachechiladze, General Director of Bank of Georgia, considers high inflation to be the main challenge for the Georgian economy. According to him, the inflation rate is likely to approach the target of 3% from 2022. At the same time, Gachechiladze thinks that a further increase in the current refinancing rate may have a negative impact on borrowers. "Probably the biggest challenge today is inflation. We deeply hope that the inflation rate will decrease and come close to the target, but the main concern here is the refinancing rate, which must not go up and become a heavy burden for the population. In fact, business recovery has become more common this year, which is a very good sign of economic health", - Archil Gachechiladze explains. Inflation has spiked to a 10-year high and stands at 12.3%.
32.5% of the adult population is fully vaccinated
"If we do not increase the immunization rate, unfortunately, we will have two-month cycles," said Amiran Gamkrelidze, director of the National Center for Disease Control. He also talked about vaccination statistics. "Generally, 32.5% of the adult population is fully vaccinated. The Pfizer vaccine is the most widely administered in the country, followed by Sinopharm, Sinovac, and finally Astrazeneca. Tbilisi is close to the target, which means to vaccinate 60% of the adult population. We have the lowest rates in Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti,“ said Gamkrelidze.
Forecast in Georgian aviation sector
Tamar Archuadze, head of United Airports Of Georgia considers that reforming of United Airports Of Georgia is timely within the framework of Reform Of State-Owned Enterprises. Archuadze declares, despite the sharp recovery of the Georgian aviation sector, it will be returned to the pre-pandemic level in 2023. “We are very pleased to have been selected as the first company from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, which has been evaluated by the World Bank and a relevant conclusion has been made about our structure.”, - said Tamar Archuadze.
Imports of oxygen
Georgia purchased more than 1 million and 200 000 dollars worth of oxygen from neighboring countries in 9M2021, the figure stood at 21 000 dollars in the same period of 2020. The grown rates are related to the increased demand due to the pandemic, as well as a product price increase. Giorgi Ambroliani, director of the Medalpha Clinic declares, that medical oxygen from Turkey has become significantly expensive, which has doubled the hospital’s expenditures. According to Geostat, Georgia purchased the largest amount of oxygen from neighboring countries in the last 9 month of 2021. Georgia paid the largest amount of money for medical oxygen to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
