Small businesses have problems paying loans

The newspaper Versia has conducted a poll of 100 traders who work around the central railway station area. In answer to the question: Do you have any bank loans? 56% said yes, 26% no, 18% that they had had.

Most of the traders think the crisis in Georgia began before the global economic crisis spread. During and after the August war trade practically stopped, nobody was buying anything apart from food and the banks stopped issuing loans and increased interest rates. Traders cannot borrow money from the banks due to these high interest rates, and it has become difficult for them to pay back existing loans as trade is slowing down.