Foreign investments issue

There are still no figures available on the amount of foreign investment pumped in to Georgia from the beginning of 2011. Five months of 2011 have passed and still nothing. The statistics department has explained that this is largely due to it changing its office. The situation is becoming rather upsetting. Georgia badly needs foreign investments with some analysts suggesting that the country needs at least USD 2 bln to develop a sustainable economy. The Georgian authorities permanently insist on boasting that in the country there exists a very attractive investment climate and that Georgia is the best reformer country. But the results are not encouraging. Since 2008 the level of investments entering the country has dramatically decreased for which there are some external factors. Among them are the global financial crisis and the Russian invasion of Georgia but these are in the past.

Meanwhile the Georgian authorities permanently feed the population with promises of huge investments from Arab countries, China, India and other places but there are no real moves in this direction. The opposition and independent analysts highlight that there is no such attractive business environment despite the Government's bravado. There are problems in protecting private property. There is a monopoly in the country; there are shortcomings in independence of the court system and so on. There are other factors as well including an inexperienced labour force, bad working habits, a lack of punctuality, low professionalism and big discrepancies in payment. Everything needs a very thoughtful, professional and long term targeted approach which at this moment is missing in the country.