Purchasing power of Georgian population is decreasing

The economic crisis has negatively influenced the purchasing power of the Georgian population. Unemployment has increased and average salaries have gone down. The population concentrates on buying food, having little left over for other goods.

There are no official statistics available on this subject, every analysis being largely based on individual observation. For instance economic analyst Soso Archuadze suggests that the average salary has gone down by 10%, and the number of employed people has also decreased by 10%.

The most visible sign of the unemployment increase is the state of the construction industry, which was booming until 2008 and even at the beginning of that year. Just a superficial glance at the streets of the capital shows that construction is dead. More and more shops are closing down and there are more and more spaces available to rent.

In 2007 Georgia had 261,000 unemployed, now there are 316,000. In the cities unemployment is running at almost 30% whereas in rural areas most people are self-employed, that is, they carry out subsistence agriculture on their own land.