The global economic recovery is ongoing, however the COVID-19 pandemic is still causing considerable volatility. Since the beginning of 2021, inflation rates have increased in both advanced and emerging economies, generally driven by pandemic-related supply-demand mismatches and rapidly rising commodity prices, following a global decline in inflation over the course of 2020. According to the latest forecasts, for most countries upward price pressures are expected to subside with a return to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2022. With this in mind, it is pertinent to compare the inflationary trends of Georgia with global patterns.
In Georgia, the year-over-year (YoY) Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the average price of goods and services acquired by consumers compared to the reference period, has proved relatively similar to global trends, as in December 2020 the inflation rate showed a significant decline of 4.6 percentage points compared to December 2019, reaching 2.4%, major decrease (25.4 pp) in prices coming from “housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” category, which can be explained by the introduction of utility subsidies for households from November 2020 and plummeting global oil prices in the middle of 2020. This figure was still higher than the lowest figure of the reporting period which was recorded in December 2018 (1.5%). Since the beginning of 2021, monthly YoY CPI inflation has been increasing sharply, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, and reaching its peak to date of 12.8% in October 2021 with a 10 pp increase from the beginning of the year.
On the contrary, YoY monthly core inflation increased in the middle of 2020, reaching 6.6% in June 2020 (with significant increases in prices of routine household maintenance, healthcare, and restaurants and hotels) and this has continued to be relatively stable with a monthly average value of 5.8% over the 2020-2021 period, while the pre-pandemic (2017-2019) monthly average was equal to 3.1%. The magnitude of the fluctuations was significantly lower in the case of core inflation compared to CPI inflation, which could be explained by the fact that the most significant price variations have tended to come under the food and energy categories.
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 February 2026, the number of persons receiving a salary increased by 10.6% month-over-month and by 3.6% year-over-year. In February 2026, vacancies published on Jobs.ge decreased by 0.5% month-over-month but increased by 14.2% year-over-year. From December 2025 to February 2026, the sales and procurement category contributed the most to the year-over-year increase in vacancies.
In January 2026, the number of salaried employees increased by 2.8% year-over-year and reached 904,967. In January 2026, vacancies published on jobs.ge increased by 4.6% year-over-year. Within this, sales and procurement vacancies increased by 13.4% year-over-year, while IT and programming vacancies decreased by 1.2%. In Q4 2025, compared to Q3 2025, the efficiency of the labor market slightly improved, as the seasonally adjusted job opening rate marginally rose and the unemployment rate decreased.
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.
In January 2026, hotel price index in Georgia decreased by 0.8% MoM, with the largest decrease observed in Tbilisi, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Racha compared to previous month. In January 2026, hotel price index in Georgia increased by 8.9% YoY, with the largest increase in Samtskhe-Javakheti, Shida Kartli, and Adjara. The average price of a room ranged from 107 GEL to 416 GEL in January 2026.
In December 2025, the number of people receiving a monthly salary increased both month-over-month (+2.8%) and year-over-year (+4.3%). In December 2025, the total number of persons receiving a service fee increased compared to corresponding periods of 2024 (+11.3%) and 2023 (+10.0%). From October to December 2025, the finance and statistics category contributed the most to the increase in vacancies on jobs.ge compared to the same period in the previous year.
The hotel price index increased for 3-, 4-, 5-star hotels and decreased for guesthouses, both on a MoM and YoY basis. In December 2025, hotel price index in Georgia increased by 4.3% MoM, with the largest increase in Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Tbilisi. In December 2025, hotel price index in Georgia increased by 3.9% YoY, with the largest increase in Samtskhe-Javakheti, Tbilisi, and Adjara.
In November 2025, the number of persons receiving a salary decreased by 0.8% month-over-month and by 1.0% year-over-year. In November 2025, vacancies published on Jobs.ge decreased by 14.9% month-over-month, but increased by 5.0% year-over-year due to a low base effect. From September to November 2025, the category that contributed the most to the year-over-year increase in vacancies was finance and statistics.
In November 2025, hotel price index in Georgia decreased by 5.9% month-over-month (MoM), with the largest declines in Guria, Tbilisi, and Samtskhe-Javakheti. In November 2025, hotel price index in Georgia decreased by 4.2% year-over-year (YoY), with the largest declines in Imereti, Kakheti, and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. The average price of a room ranged from 101 GEL to 390 GEL in November 2025.
In October 2025, the number of persons receiving a salary increased by 1.9% month-over-month and by 2.6% year-over-year. In October 2025, vacancies published on Jobs.ge decreased month-over-month by 12.2% and by 2.1% year-over-year. The number of vacancies in IT and programming category increased the most both year-over-year (+54.8%) and month-over-month (+5.0%) in October 2025. In Q3 2025, compared to Q2 2025, labor market expanded, as seasonally adjusted job opening rate increased and unemployment rate decreased, while labor market efficiency remained unchanged.
From January to October 2025, Georgia’s economy grew by 7.6%. While YoY growth was robust, it was still below the previous year’s pace. Key growth contributors were the ICT and education sectors, accounting for 22.8% and 12.8% of growth, respectively. Services exports and other external inflows supported economic activity, with total FDI increasing by 11.0% YoY and tourism revenues rising by 5.1% YoY.