Serious economic changes are needed

According to information from the Statistics Department in 2008 Georgia’s GDP per capita was GEL 4,351.7. However many people in Georgia do not trust this figure. It is challenged in particular by opposition political parties.

One of the leaders of Industry will Save Georgia, Zurab Tkemaladze, states that when GDP is high a country has well-developed export production and small and medium-sized businesses have serious support from the state. Such countries are not oriented on imports but on the contrary promote local production. Tkemaladze thinks that while exports are not promoted, and thus unemployment not decreased, the economic situation will not change. He thinks that programmes should be elaborated to substitute imports with exports.

Unless economic policy is conducted in the right direction our country’s economy will not survive, thinks Tkemaladze. Georgia will be totally dependent on grants, credits and assistance if the right policy is not adopted, he says.