On January 31, the USAID Governance and Local Accountability (HOVERLA) Activity held a forum to discuss and define the priorities of the legislative agenda of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with respect to decentralization and local government development for 2022.
Marc Ellingstad, Director of the Office of Democracy and Governance at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Mission in Ukraine and Belarus, opened the event.
“Today’s event is aimed at facilitating the discussion of needs and challenges, faced by municipalities, as well as the possibilities for the Government and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to consider those needs and challenges while drafting the 2022 legislative agenda. USAID in partnership with Ukraine and its citizens has been investing in Ukrainian democracy for almost thirty years. We believe that spreading decentralization has been one of the most significant and successful reforms in Ukraine” emphasized Mr. Ellingstad in his welcome address.
The forum gathered over 300 participants, including people’s deputies, local self-government bodies’ heads, representatives of local self-government, and the Government of Ukraine, and entailed discussions on the priorities of the legislative agenda regarding the decentralization reform from the perspective of the Ukrainian government, the Verkhovna Rada, local governments, and their associations. The results of a survey on the legislative agenda and priorities submitted to over 150 local government representatives were also presented at the event.
Most participants of the event stressed the need to make amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in the fields of distribution of powers, budget, and tax legislation. Moving forward, the forum results will be systematized and forwarded to relevant stakeholders working on the decentralization of legislation.
The HOVERLA Activity is a five-year program funded by USAID and implemented by DAI Global LLC (DAI) in cooperation with implementing partners.
On September 9, we presented the findings of the research entitled “Investment and Export Promotion via Diagonal Cumulation between Georgia, Türkiye, and the European Union” at a forum organized by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia with the support of the USAID Economic Security Program, the EU, and GIZ.
We recently started working on a new project entitled “Communal Infrastructure for Environment and Tourism Improvement - Lot 2: Accompanying Measures,” aimed at improving the living conditions of people in four Georgian municipalities (Baghdati, Vani, Samtredia, and Kazbegi) through improving the supply of hygienically-sound drinking water and environmentally-safe sanitation infrastructure.
We recently completed a project entitled “Executive Roundtable (ERT) Session on Non-Profit Budgeting Process,” carried out by the USAID HICD Activity and implemented by the Kaizen, Tetra Tech company, aiming to facilitate collaboration, collective learning, and organizational development in the non-profit budgeting process with a cohort of selected organizations, including the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), and the Georgian Association of Social Workers (GASW).
On September 19-23, the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) is hosting the 2022 International Conference at the University Club of Washington DC, offering the first opportunity in over two years for the global PFM community to gather in-person to network and connect with leading professionals and colleagues from across the world, in a unique and distinguished setting.
On July 28, PMCG supported a workshop organized by the EU and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia as part of the project “Support to Environmental Protection and Fight Against Climate Change in Georgia.”
In May 2025, the number of persons receiving a monthly salary increased by 1.5% YoY. However, the YoY growth rate slowed by 2.8 percentage points compared to May 2024. In May 2025, the share of persons receiving a monthly salary of 2,400 GEL or more increased by 4.9 percentage points YoY, while the share of those receiving up to 600 GEL declined by 2.3 percentage points. In May 2025, the total number of vacancies published on jobs.ge declined by 5.1% YoY, but increased by 10.8% MoM.
The Business Association of Georgia (BAG) Index is a joint product of the Business Association of Georgia, PMC Research Center, and the ifo Institute for Economic Research. The BAG Index summarizes the BAG Business Climate, BAG Employment Barometer, and BAG Investment Environment, which are calculated according to the assessments of the top managers of BAG member businesses and companies in their corporate group. BAG and PMC Research Center publish the BAG Index on a quarterly basis from Q4 2019.
The latest issue of Economic Outlook and Indicators in Georgia highlights recent improvements in the labor market while also addressing emerging challenges. In this bulletin, we explore key labor market developments and provide a comprehensive overview, including: • Key labor market indicators • Beveridge curve analysis • Employment by economic sectors and foreign nationals • Salaries of paid employees • Vacancies posted on Jobs.ge
Our latest monthly publication, Employment Tracker, offers insights into recent developments in Georgia’s labor market. In April 2025, the number of persons receiving a monthly salary saw an increase of 2.2% compared to the same period of 2024. However, the YoY growth rate slowed by 2.6 percentage points compared to April 2024. In April 2025, the total number of vacancies posted on jobs.ge decreased by 16.6% YoY. Over the past 3 months (from February 2025 to April 2025), the administration and management category saw the largest YoY decrease (–21.8%), contributing the most to the overall decline.
Georgia’s economy demonstrated robust average YoY growth of 9.3% in Q1 of 2025 (rapid estimate), sustaining strong momentum after 9.5% growth in 2024. Issue 8 of the Macro Overview examines key aspects of Georgia’s economy and beyond, including: • Economic Growth; • Economic and Business Climate; • Key Macroeconomic Indicators; • Labor Market; • External Sector; • Global Economic Trends.
The beverage manufacturing sector, encompassing the production of fruit juices, mineral water, soft drinks, beer, and spirits, has high export potential and a strong presence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). From 2017 to 2023, Georgia’s total beverage exports grew at a CAGR of 10%, reaching USD 463 million in 2023. Despite overall export growth, the share of exports to the EU declined significantly during this time, particularly for SMEs. Key challenges include limited access to quality raw materials, outdated machinery, a shortage of skilled labor, and logistical constraints, as well as difficulties in meeting EU standards and DCFTA regulations and limited access to financing for export operations.
Our latest monthly publication, Employment Tracker, offers insights into recent developments in Georgia’s labor market. In March 2025, the number of persons receiving a monthly salary saw a modest increase of 0.3% compared to the same period in 2024. In March 2025, the total number of vacancies posted on jobs.ge decreased by 18% YoY. The administration and management category contributed the most to the decline in vacancies from January to March 2025.
Georgia’s IT services sector has experienced rapid expansion, with tax revenues quadrupling between 2020 and 2023, employment increasing 5.4-fold, and turnover rising 13-fold. Government policies and incentives, such as the International Company Status and FDI Grant Program, have played a key role in attracting foreign investment and driving the sector’s development. Future growth will rely on strategic initiatives such as the successful implementation of GITA 2.0, enhanced IT procurement policies, and stronger collaboration with the private sector, while addressing key challenges like export capabilities and talent retention.
Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, maritime trade flows in the Black Sea were significantly reshaped. As the war continued, developments affecting the trade in the Black Sea changed, underscoring the importance of thoroughly analyzing how the region has adapted to such disruptions. This publication builds upon the previous edition, which was released shortly after the outbreak of the war. Now, three years later, our focus shifts to examining how trade dynamics, particularly maritime trade in the Black Sea region, have evolved during this period. Key insights include: Upon the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, port calls in Ukraine and Russia dropped sharply, while other Black Sea countries briefly benefited from redirected trade flows. By late 2023, port calls in Ukraine had gradually recovered, supported by new shipping routes through Romania and Bulgaria. However, serious threats to commercial shipping remained. Ukraine’s maritime exports and imports fell sharply in 2022, with a slow recovery in imports in 2023. In Russia, maritime imports declined, while exports initially increased in 2022, possibly due to sanctions being ineffective. However, as the sanctions intensified, exports also fell significantly the following year.
Our latest monthly publication, Employment Tracker, offers insights into recent developments in Georgia’s labor market. In February 2025, the annual growth in the number of salaried employees recorded its lowest rate since 2023. In February 2025, the total number of vacancies posted on jobs.ge decreased by 20% YoY. Between December 2024 and February 2025, the Sales and Procurement category saw the highest number of job postings.