Analysts concerned by opaque privatization

One of the major reasons investors would enter Georgia was its privatization policy. However, local analysts have observed certain violations of the policy and are urging the authorities to be more selective in what they privatize and to whom it is sold.

Former Minister of Economy Lado Papava thinks that privatizations undertaken during the last years have not been thought through or executed objectively and this is incompatible with the principles of privatization. He believes that the process undertaken has been murky and has created a situation where there is no transparent capital entering the country. He believes the Government should have adhered to the rules more strictly when it privatized communications and energy resources.

Another economic analyst, Gia Khukhashvili, has warned of the threat the country faces through from Russian capital entering the Georgian market. Khukhashvili thinks that taking over Georgian resources is part of Russia’s aggressive politics towards the country.

The Georgian Government intends to actively continue its privatization policy in 2009, when it plans to sell the part of the Georgian state electricity system, Georgian Post, 24 % of Poti Port and some agricultural land.