Tbilisi. Non-Governmental Organization "Society and Banks” published research – "Commercial Bank Loans according to Regions”. The aim of the research was establishment of current economic activity in various regions of Georgia.  Research Source: Organization's page in the social network

Adjara. On June 16 the lawyers of the Constitution Article 42 had a meeting with small and medium business representatives in Batumi. The meeting was held within the framework of the project "Raising Confidence of Small and Medium Business Representatives to Justice”. The lawyers of the Constitution Article 42 introduced the changes in tax law to small entrepreneurs of Batumi. Meetings were already held in Kakheti, Akhaltsikhe and Gori within the project framework. Source: Organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. On June 14 "Debates on Economy” were held organized by Association of Young Economists of Georgia. Debates were held with team principle. Each University represented one team consisting 4 members. Tbilisi State University, Ilia State University, University of Georgia David the Builder, Caucasus International University and Black Sea International University participated in debates. Actual issues existing in Georgian economy were selected as debate cases. Certificated were given to all participants of the debates. Source: Organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Association of Young Economists of Georgia has released a statement on VAT returns as a result of carrying out export operations. For the full text. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. On June 5, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) in cooperation with the Tax Payers Union (TPU) conducted the round table discussion about the financial-legislative regulations of state-owned enterprises and the policy towards SOEs in Baltic States. The meeting was attended by the representatives of virus state institutions, NGOs and the civic sector. For the full text Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Georgian Co-Investment Fund’s 2014 projects: Further transparency needed”. "TI Georgia believes that it is important for GCF to publicly announce which individuals invest in GCF projects alongside Bidzina Ivanishvili. While GCF can achieve positive benefits for the Georgian economy and job creation. The level of transparency that we recommend GCF provides is important in order to attract investors, whether they wish to co-invest with the Fund or in a project that may be in competition with a GCF-backed project. Moreover, this openness will allow us, the public, and other investors to monitor the current government and the economy effectively", says the blog post. For the full text Source: transparency.ge  

Tbilisi. Economic Policy Research Center published a new research - "Anti-Crisis Stimulus Package for Economic Recovery". The report has been published within the framework of the project – Anti-Crisis Stimulus Package for Economic Recovery. The project is being implemented with the support of East West Management Institute (EWMI) program - Policy, Advocacy and Civil Society Development in Georgia (G-PAC), funded through US Agency for International Development (USAID). The overall objective of the project is to establish the culture of crisis management in Georgia and provide expert guidance to the government in creation of an anti-crisis document for economic recovery stimulus package. The aim of this paper is to analyze financial performance of the government of Georgia in 2013 and the first quarter of 2014; also, to evaluate the implemented economic policy and results thereof. The Research  Source: eprc.ge

Tbilisi. The Association of Young Economists of Georgia has released a statement in connection with the state program "Produce with Georgia". "It is important that the presented program does not experience same problems that the "Cheap Credit" program had suffered. Risks related to corruption (e.g. supporting an individual private entrepreneur with a corruption deal), failure by entrepreneurs to fulfill investment obligations, provision of low-quality consultation services, must be minimized. Further, we would like to present several issues that should be emphasized prior to launching the Program." For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. CSO "Society and Banks" has published the study "Revenues of Commercial Banks from Fines/Penalties and their Ratio with the Banks' Interest Rates". "There is an opinion that revenues generated from the fines/penalties of commercial banks make up a major portion of their total income. In order to establish whether this fact corresponds to truth, the organization has studied the data of five commercial banks.According to the study results, such revenues make up a very small portion of the banks' total income." The study Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia has released the report: "Projects and Investments of the Partnership Fund in 2011-2014”. It describes projects that the Partnership Fund has implemented over three years as well as the current projects. For the full text. Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Association of Young Economists of Georgia reacted to the initiative of Prime Minister Gharibashvili on the formation of the list of objects of special importance and released a statement. "We find that early and incomplete publicizing of this initiative is not justified and includes a negative signal for existing potential investors... We call on the Government of Georgia to make a timely explanation on the initiative in order to avoid alarming the investors and to involve business groups and CSOs in the development and discussion of the second draft Law,” says the statement. For the full text Source: the Association of Young Economists of Georgia.

Tbilisi. The Eurasia Partnership Foundation has presented the report on "Implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan and the Eastern Partnership Bilateral and Multilateral Roadmaps of 2013 in Georgia: Trade and Trade-Related Issues". The report assesses the activities implemented by the Georgian authorities in 2013 under the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan and the Eastern Partnership Bilateral and Multilateral Roadmaps. The report analyzes legislative, institutional or administrative changes undertaken in the country in terms of trade, customs procedures, intellectual property rights, investments and competition policy, as well as provides the opinions of government sector, business representatives and independent experts on these reforms. Source: Economic Policy Research Center.

Tbilisi. The Young Economists of Georgia have released a statement on the Development Bank. The organization has released a statement on this issue back on April 7, and in the new statement the organization also expresses its position: "We believe that regardless of the purpose behind setting this bank up, its existence is not justified and it will hinder the development of financial markets and will have an adverse effect on economic growth," says the statement in which the organization discusses causes in detail. For the full tex (geo). Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Association of Young Economists of Georgia has implemented the project "Piloting Entrepreneurship Education in Public Schools of Georgia" as part of the US Embassy's Democracy Commission Small Grants Program.Within the project framework, AYEG has actively cooperated with the Ministry of Education of Georgia. Schoolchildren were interviewed about their attitudes towards entrepreneurship, pilot trainings were delivered, study trips were organized to small and medium business organizations, etc. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. In theGeorgian Young Economists Association debates on economics were held. The debates were held in two rounds. Current issues in economics were debated.The participants received groupe and individual prizes.  Source:the organization's page in the social network

Imereti. Czech CSO "People in Need" has organized a training on April 10-11 in Kutaisi on "Social Entrepreneurship". The training aimed to share the knowledge and experience of social entrepreneurship to those interested in applying for the grant competition announced by the organization.Staff members of the "Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia" have led the training. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Heinrich Böll Foundation released a publication - Renewables: The Only Path to a secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy system by 2030. The document 

Tbilisi. "AIESEC" has organized the youth business-forum. The event aimed to facilitate contacts between young leaders and various company representatives. Up to 200 pre-selected youngsters of 18-30 years of age have participated in the business-forum, as well as the business sector representatives and successful leaders, who are interested in supporting the development of Georgia's future leaders and public well-being.A three-day forum has hosted discussions over the following issues: unemployment of the youth, entrepreneurship, innovations, stable development of the business, career growth, etc. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Organization "World Experience for Georgia" - published comments on the document - "Social - Economic Development Strategy - Georgia 2020". "The strategy project contains important statements about European choice and market principles of transparency, good governance, improving the regulatory environment and implementation of the principles of European law that are very relevant for the field of energy. The document deserves praise however, however we won`t start detailed discussions of the benefits, instead, we`ll mainly focus on the gaps in energy part of the document, with the aim of improving the quality of the final strategy". For the full text Source:weg.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Economists' Association has released a statement on the Georgian Development Bank."We believe that, regardless of the purpose of setting up this Bank, its existence is not justified, will hinder the development of financial markets, and will have an adverse effect on economic growth due to the following key reasons: if this Bank works by a social mandate and focuses on the high-risk and low-income projects, it will have to go through frequent recapitalizations and in the future it will start working on more profitable projects, by which it will compete with private banks, thus having an adverse effect on the development of the financial sector; there is a high probability that the Bank will not work effectively and will serve the politicians' personal tasks; accordingly, we urge the Government of Georgia to revoke the initiative of setting up the Georgian Development Bank," says the statement. Source: the organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "The Parliament of Georgia adopts anti-monopoly reform bill". "On 21 March 2014 the Parliament of Georgia has adopted at the third hearing the draft Law of Georgia "on the Amendments to the Law of Georgia on Free Trade and Competition”. This draft Law was developed as part of the anti-monopoly reform and aims to improve institutional framework of competition for promoting a free competition and development of a competitive market. Transparency International Georgia ... welcomes its adoption by the Parliament", says the blog post. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Adjara. On March 29 in Batumi State Unviersity a presentation was held of business competition results. 4 business-projects created by students were reviewed by NGOs, members of business sector etc.Winners will be holding consultations in business sphere for students in the future. Overall 30 students were chosen within the framework of the projects.