Tag Archives: Georgia

Markets: Turkish lira, Georgian lari

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Turkish lira has started the year looking like the sick man of Emerging Market currencies. It dropped to an all-time low of 3.89/$1 on Jan. 10 before pulling back slightly. It has lost 25% in the past year.

The triggers for this are global unease over the incoming US president, Donald Trump, a strong US dollar and Turkey’s own domestic issues hinged around the anti- Gulenist purges currently sweeping through business and government.

The lira is a fragile currency and for the currencies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, this is a problem. After Russia, Turkey is one of the biggest drivers of regional growth. Istanbul is a natural hub for businesses in the region. Inherent weaknesses in the lira could pull down the rest of the region. And these currencies are already looking weak with the Georgian lari looking under particular pressure. Since December it has surfed around all- times lows of 2.66-2.77/$1.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Georgian Shilda to export 5m bottles of wine

JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shilda Wines, owned by former Georgian economy minister Vano Chkhartishvili MP, has made a deal to export 5m bottles of wine to China over the next three years. The deal is the largest ever struck by a wine producer with China. It highlights how important China has become to the Georgian wine market. China is the third biggest Georgian wine importer after Russia and Ukraine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

High demand triggers Georgian airport expansion

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In 2016, 1.8m people used Tbilisi international airport, media reported, more than double the people volume in 2010. The high usage has triggered an expansion scheme. A new arrival terminal will be able to process 3.25m people every year, officials said. The airport is operated by Turkey-based TAV Airports Holding. Georgia has invested millions into boosting tourist numbers, marketing itself as both a seaside destination with its resorts on the Black Sea coast and also as a winter sports hub. Iranians and Iraqis have also been travelling to Georgia to set up businesses.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Visa-free travel nears for Georgians

JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee voted to approve visa-free travel for Georgia and Ukraine, setting the stage for a full parliamentary vote on the issue in February or March. The civil liberties committee is considered a powerful sounding- board and analysts said that it was likely that the European Parliament would approve the motion and that Georgians will be able to travel without a visa to the Schengen zone from April or May.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Saakashvili’s United National Movement party splits up in Georgia

TBILISI, JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Three months after a humiliating parliamentary election defeat the once mighty United National Movement party (UNM) appears to be in its final death throes.

Putting an end to months of speculation, 21 MPs from the UNM said that they were breaking away to form a new party.

Gigi Ugulava, the MPs’ unofficial leader, said the UNM was too heavily tarnished by its links to former president Mikheil Saakahsvili.

“One person is responsible for dismantling the party, the person, who established the party,” media quoted him as saying, referring to Mr Saakashvili.

Mr Ugulava is an ex-mayor of Tbilisi. He was only released from prison a week earlier, where he had been serving a sentence for bribe-taking.

At a parliamentary election, UNM won just 27 seats of 150 seats, down from 65 seats in the 2012 election. Its great rivals, the Georgian Dream won 115 seats, up from 85.

Mr Saakashvili, Georgian president from 2004 until 2013 who counted George W. Bush as a friend, has been living in exile since leaving office in 2013. He had been hoping that a UNM victory at the election would allow him to return to Georgia.

He responded to the breakup of the party from his base in Ukraine in his usual bombastic fashion.

“Everyone saw the amount of defectors today and everyone will see the strength and the amount of the United National Movement at its January 20 congress,” he said on Facebook.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Visitor numbers grow in Georgia

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Just over 6.3m people visited Georgia in 2016, the country’s statistics service said, an increase of 7.6% from 2015. The data doesn’t differentiate between tourists and business visitors. The largest number of visitors were from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Russia. EU citizens made 263,000 trips, up from 241,000. A 45 day visa-free regime for Iranians also boosted numbers to 148,000 visits up from 25,000 visits in 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Israeli President visits Georgia

JAN. 9/10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin flew to Georgia for a 2-day state visit and for meetings with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili. The trip was being hailed as an advert for the close relations between the two countries. Last year a subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems said it would set up a factory in Georgia to produce parts for passenger planes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Tax pushes up inflation in Georgia

JAN. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s state statistics committee said that annualised inflation in Georgia measured 1.8% in December, a sharp increase from 0.2% measured in November. This increase was expected because of a rise in excise duty imposed on alcohol and cigarettes. Deflation has been stalking Georgia’s economy, a reflection of the tough economic times hitting the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

US Senator McCain flies into Georgia to warn Trump not to go soft on dealing with Putin

TBILISI, JAN. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Landing in Tbilisi on the last leg of a tour of the Baltic States, Ukraine and Georgia, US Republican Senator John McCain said that the US needed to stand up to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.

Mr McCain, who was accompanied by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, warned incoming US president Donald Trump not to be soft on Mr Putin.

“I believe we must continue to improve our relations and understand that Vladimir Putin, unless we stand up to him, will continue his aggression,” he told media on a trip to boundary with the break away region of South Ossetia. “We must stand up to Vladimir Putin.”

Mr McCain is known for his tough hawkish stance on Russia and, over the years, has been a major supporter of the westward trajectory taken by Georgia and other FSU countries.

And for Georgia, his support is important, especially with Mr Trump making increasingly benign overtones to Mr Putin. In a twitter message last month he praised Mr Putin, calling him “very smart”, for not reacting to the expulsion from the US of 35 Russian diplomats for trying to influence the US presidential election through a series of hacks.

Since 2003, when Mikheil Saakashvili took power during a peaceful revolution, Georgia has pursued a doggedly pro-Western agenda. It has joined in US-led military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and applied for both NATO and EU membership.

These steps have irritated the Kremlin, which still aims to control its near-abroad, and triggered a war in 2008. Relations have improved since the Georgian Dream coalition won power in 2012 although they are still decidedly strained.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Trump cancels Tower project in Georgia

TBILISI, JAN.4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Trump Organisation, the company running the businesses of President-elect Donald Trump, pulled out of a $250m deal to build a 47-storey apartment block in Batumi on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.

Last month, the company also pulled out of projects in Azerbaijan and Brazil to protect Mr Trump’s image. In truth, though, the Batumi project, signed in 2012, lost momentum after former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili lost power in elections in 2012 and 2013.

The project was generally derided as part of the showmanship of Mr Saakashvili, who had a talent for eye- catching initiatives.

In an email, Trump Organisation said: “[We’ve decided] to formally end the development of Trump Tower, Batumi.”

The Silk Road Group, an industrial conglomerate that was partnering Trump in the project , said it would push ahead with the development.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)