Foreign capital active in Georgia

Foreign companies are buying Georgian enterprises. Sometime ago 80 percent of Ioli group supermarkets network was sold to a Lithuanian businessman and in the summer, development company CenterPoint was sold to the foreign investment company Dexus. The reasons for most of these deals were financial difficulties, which is of course a concern for Georgian businessmen. Clearly the investment of foreign capital in Georgia should be welcomed; however local companies should be helped to overcome the crisis themselves, so that they remain under Georgian ownership. “It is more important to support national businesses rather than look to foreign investments. Only this will be beneficial for the Georgian economy,” suggests analyst Avtandil Silagadze.