Economic policy criticised

A former leading New Rights member, Irakli Iashvili, and a team of economists have produced an analysis of the economic development of the country since the Rose Revolution. The document states that the major tools for developing the economy after the Rose Revolution were foreign direct investment and increasing state expenditure. However this meant that there were no incentives offered to encourage the development of business, which the authors of the document believe was a mistake.

Most of the foreign investments Georgia received, around 80%, have been attracted by privatizing and selling different assets. The document says that such investments are not investments at all, because they don’t stimulate any actual development of economic activity.

Overall the experts think that the country continues to encourage investors to purchase assets in Georgia but nothing is being done to actually stimulate the development of business. No system has been elaborated based on the market economy, the use of local resources and the encouragement of local business activity.

The document highlights several shortcomings of the current economic policy. It has not been able to safeguard private property or private deals and cannot ensure competition. The inability of the state to stop monopolies developing is also cited as a fault of the present policy.