Will Anti-Monopoly Service be restored?

The GBC agency has conducted a poll asking whether the Anti-Monopoly Service should be restored. Of 174 respondents 71.6% said yes, 18.9% said that the Georgian market does not need monopoly regulation and 9.5% suggested that it is premature to create such a body.

The original Anti-Monopoly Service was established in 1995 but it was subsequently abolished by Kakha Bendukidze, then the Minister of Economic Development. Instead a special agency for competition and free trade was created. In 2009 the current Minister of Economy Lasha Zhvania started talking about the necessity of restoring the service, however PM Nika Gilauri is against this, saying it will create an extra barrier for business which could prevent the country from implementing liberal reforms.