Local production ignored in Georgia

Georgia’s overseas trade balance is becoming more and more negative, as the country has become hugely dependent on imports. Leader of the Industrialists Party Zurab Tkemaladze thinks that if the country wants to stimulate local production, special programmes should be elaborated for this. The Government should create a realistic programme in which it is clearly determined how state support will be exercised to promote local entrepreneurship and produce products which will substitute imports and increase export numbers, thinks Tkemaladze.

The first step in developing domestic production would have to be to equip enterprises with modern facilities. This would however require credit, and recently it has become very difficult to get credit. Mostly of what is available is consumer credit with a very high interest rate, sometimes up to 40%.

The state-promoted cheap credit project deals in very low volumes. Entrepreneurs are offered not enough amount for their needs. This should be changed if the country really wants to assist local entrepreneurs, says Tkemaladze.