Administration and opposition accuse each other

According to a statement made by the Georgian Government on June 1 Georgia’s economy will contract by 1.5% in 2009. The street actions of April and May were blamed for this. Both opposition-oriented and independent analysts however bring counter arguments. They say that one of the reasons people are in the streets protesting is the new developments in the Georgian economy, thus indicating that the source of the crisis is wrongly conducted economic policy.

The current situation reflects negatively on the trust foreign and local business communities show in Georgia.

The Government has stated that according to their estimation the country’s economy should have grown 1% in 2009. This estimation was supported by different international financial institutions. This illusion has gone. In 2008 the Georgian economy grew 2.1% despite the war, but not in the postwar period.

One of the leaders of National Forum, economist Niko Orvelashvili, believes it is absolutely unacceptable to say that blocking one street can damage the country’s economy. He suggests that the five years of the Rose Revolution administration have harmed Georgia’s economy.