Seminar on global economic crisis held at ISET

The International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET) hosted a seminar by World Bank South Caucasus and Central Asia Regional Director Asad Alam on Wednesday. Its topic was The Global Economic Crisis and the South Caucasus countries: Prospects for Recovery and Growth.

Asad Alam, a PHD in Economics from New York's Columbia University, outlined the situation in the South Caucasus before the world financial crisis and the effects of the global economic downturn on Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The World Bank Regional Director said that as a result of the global crisis Azerbaijan's oil exports had fallen sharply. The crisis caused a decline in remittances to Armenia and a drop in the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment to Georgia.

Alam suggested that productivity is a key to growth prospects and stressed that there is a need to concentrate on improving the business environment and technology base of the region, in particular as regards openness and export orientation, labour skills, infrastructure, tax policy, trade facilitation, lowering the cost of business transactions and macrostability.