The poorest best reformer

The Georgian economy is being given different ratings by international organisations. The recent World Bank rating stated that Georgia was among the best reforming countries, and a special prize for this was collected by Chairman of the Georgian Parliament David Bakradze in Vienna recently, but according to the IMF rating Georgia is amongst the poorest countries in the world. The question is: why have the much-hailed reforms yielded no economic results for the population?

Some analysts say that a high rating does not automatically indicate that Georgia is a rich country. Analyst Paata Sheshelidze notes that Georgia has done many positive things which should have ensured that it became a successful country. For instance Georgia has good business start up legislation, there are very few licensing formalities and the labour code is good. It has become easier to register private property and obtain bank loans. However, there are still some problems in the areas of protecting investors’ rights and tax simplification.

Maybe it is good for Georgia that it appears in the list of the 78 poorest countries in the world. The IMF is more likely to issue these countries credit at beneficial interest rates to help them combat the recognised global economic crisis, which will affect the poorest most of all. .