Wilson: ‘Dream’ Sold Georgia into ‘Debt Slavery’ to China

The company imports major brands such as Roshen and Danone to Georgia.According to Burduli, the price difference compared to European countries is directly linked to producers’ policies. Large manufacturers view Georgia as a small buyer, resulting in higher purchase prices.“In many cases, major manufacturers consider our market expensive, small in scale, so purchase prices are higher than in other countries,” Burduli noted, citing Turkey as an example, where similar products are significantly cheaper.He added that prices imported by their company increased by no more than 2% on average in 2025, mainly due to changes in purchase costs.Burduli emphasized that distributors cannot arbitrarily raise prices, as international brands strictly control operating costs and profit margins. In most cases, distributors’ profit margins do not exceed 3%, and at most 5%.On March 5, the fifth session of the Commission for the Study of the Pricing Structure of Food Products, Medicines, and Fuel was held in the Georgian Parliament. The commission, which has already met with local producers and small importers, aims to complete its study of the market structure and value chain by the end of April.

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In the FTSE 100, Bank of Georgia joins global giants such as HSBC, BP, Unilever, Rolls-Royce, Shell, Barclays, and others.Lion Finance Group will officially join the index on March 20, 2026, after the stock exchange closes, with the change taking effect on March 23, 2026.“Lion Finance Group’s inclusion in the FTSE 100 is recognition of the value created by our group. This achievement highlights the strength of our strategy, innovative technology, and customer-centric approach in Georgia and Armenia. I believe this recognition will further boost international interest and attract new investments. This milestone is the result of the professionalism and joint effort of every member of our team,” said Archil Gachechiladze, CEO of Lion Finance Group.For context, Lion Finance Group is a banking group listed on the London Stock Exchange that unites leading, customer-focused, digitally accessible universal banks, including Bank of Georgia and Ameriabank.The group was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and joined the FTSE 250 index in 2012.

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Statistics show that as recently as January 2026, the sector’s annual growth rate was 25.5%, but the rate stabilized sharply in February.Price Regulation and the DRG SystemThe slowdown affects only services outside state funding. Under the diagnosis-related group (DRG) model used in the universal healthcare program, clinics cannot arbitrarily raise prices, meaning most price changes occurred in the unreformed segment of the sector.Competition Agency MonitoringThe Competition and Consumer Protection Agency is monitoring the medical market, analyzing data from large inpatient clinics covering January 2022 to October 2025.The agency aims to determine:• Whether price increases of up to 100% were economically justified;• Whether increases were driven by higher costs or market factors;• Whether clinics artificially inflated prices.According to the agency’s representative, Giorgi Kedelidze, the study will highlight areas with the highest inflation. The date for publishing the initial results has not yet been announced.

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Following the 15th session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation in Tbilisi, Irakli Kobakhidze and Nikol Pashinyan held a joint briefing, where they focused on the security environment in the South Caucasus and the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process.Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze positively assessed the progress achieved between Armenia and Azerbaijan and noted that Tbilisi is ready to continue to play the role of a mediator or facilitator in achieving stability."We see that the situation around us is quite difficult, and in this context, it is especially important to deepen cooperation. Georgia will spare no effort to promote peace and stability in the region," Kobakhidze said.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan thanked the Georgian side for its contribution to the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. According to him, Yerevan and Baku are building economic ties with Georgia's support.The leaders discussed bilateral relations, which this year have moved to the level of strategic partnership. Kobakhidze expressed special gratitude to Armenia for its support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, including its support for the UN resolution on IDPs.Main economic highlights of the meeting: Tourism: The growth of tourist flows in both directions was emphasized. Trade: Potential sectors for strengthening economic ties were discussed within the framework of the government commission. Investments: It was planned to expand cooperation in the fields of education, science and sports. “Our partnership and friendship are truly exemplary. It is our responsibility to do our utmost to further deepen these relations,” added Irakli Kobakhidze.

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In 2025, scheduled flights carried 95.2 percent of passengers in airports of Georgia.In 2025, the number of passenger flights from Georgian airports increased by 11.1 percent compared to the previous year and amounted to 33.6 thousands.In 2025, in airports of Georgia the volume of freight and mail amounted to 39.0 thousand tons, of which 92.9 percent was arrived freight and post, and 7.1 percent was departured.In 2025, 3.9 thousand freight flights were carried out in the airports of Georgia and that is 77.1 percent more than the same figure of 2024.In 2025, airway companies of Georgia transported 740.2 thousand passengers and 154.1 thousand tons of freight. Compared to the previous year, the number of passengers increased by 14.8 percent and freight decreased by 42.9 persent.In 2025, 62 aircraft were registered in the Georgian civil aircraft register, out of which 77.4 percent were passenger aircrafts and 22.6 percent were cargo aircraft. 72.9 percent of passenger aircrafts had not more than 50 seats, 10.4 percent had between 51 and 150 seats, and 16.7 percent had 151-250 or more seats.In 2025 Georgian airports were equipped with six runways, 59 check-in points, 26 passenger gates and 2.5 thousand parking places for private cars.

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By the end of 2025, total length of railway lines equaled 1 592.6 kilometers, of which 99.6% was electrified. The length of main lines amounted to 551.3 kilometers, of which 42.9% is single-track and 57.1% is double-track.In 2025, rail transported 13.3 million tons of freight, which is 3% less than the respective figure of 2024. 7.9% of the total freight was transported domestically, 34.7% was transported internationally (excluding transit), and 57.5% was transit.In 2025, the share of incoming freight represented 75.8% of the railway-transported freights, while the share of outgoing freight was 24.2%.In 2025, the sender country of 35.8 percent of total incoming rail freight was Russian Federation, 27.2 percent was sent by Azerbaijan. The share of other countries sending cargo was less than ten percent each (37.0 percent combined).In 2025, Armenia was the final destination for 16.2 percent of total outgoing freight, for 9.2 percent it was Kazakhstan, and for 8.4 percent – Russian Federation. The share of other individual receiving countries was relatively small (66.2 percent combined).The breakdown of the total transit freight by the final destination country in 2025 was as follows: the Netherlands – 13.4 percent, Turkey – 10.8 percent, China – 6.6 percent, Ukraine – 2.9 percent, Italy – 2.4 percent, Romania – 1.3 percent, and elsewhere was for the rest. In the same period, Brazil was the sender country of 6.0 percent of the total transit freight, Turkey – 3.0 percent, USA – 1.2 percent, and other countries sent the rest.In the reporting period, 36.4 percent of the total freight were coke and refined petroleum products, 20.9 percent were chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers; rubber and plastic products, and 12.8 percent were metal ores and other mining and quarrying products.The distribution by type of goods was different in case of freights transported domestically in 2025, as the share of metal ores and other mining and quarrying products equaled 56.5 percent of the total, and the share of coke and refined petroleum products amounted to 22.7 percent; while the share of transport equipment amounted to 9.9 percent.As for the freights transported internationally, in the reporting period, incoming goods were mainly coke and refined petroleum products (47.3 percent), other nonmetallic mineral products (17.0 percent), metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (11.0 percent), products of agriculture, hunting, and forestry (6.8 percent), coal and lignite (5.0 percent), basic metals (4.7 percent), chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (2.7 percent); while outgoing goodswere mainly chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (35.0 percent), food products, beverages and tobacco (25.6 percent), metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (13.0 percent), and basic metals (12.1 percent).In 2025, three type of goods, namely coke and refined petroleum products (38.2 percent), chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (30.0 percent), and food products, beverages and tobacco (10.4 percent) constituted for 78.6 percent of the total volume of transit freight.In 2025, the number of passengers transported by the Georgian Railway decreased by 17.3 percent compared to the previous year and amounted to 1 717.9 thousand persons. At the same time, passenger turnover decreased by 17.7 percent compared to 2024 and amounted to 393.3 million passenger-kilometer.In 2025, the number of passengers transported within the country amounted to 1 690.2 thousand persons, which represents 98.4 percent of the total number of passengers carried and is 17.5 percent less than the same figure of 2024. At the same time, the number of passengers transported internationally amounted to 27.7 thousand, which is 2.4 percent less than in the previous year. The country of embarkation was Armenia for 67.9 percent of internationally transported passengers while the country of disembarkation was Armenia for 32.1 percent of international transported passengers (no passengers were transported from/to any other neighboring country in 2025).

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In 2025, compared to the previous year, the ports and terminals of Georgia received 40.4% more general cargo carriers, 38.8% more – specialized carriers, 2.5 percent more – dry bulk, 26.7% less – container ships and 16.6% less – liquid bulk.In 2025, 17.6% of the ships arriving at the ports and terminals of Georgia sailed under the flag of Panama, 15.3%  – under the flag of Turkey, 9.9% – under the flag of Malta, 8.3% – under the flag of Liberia and the rest 48.9% were distributed among other countries.In 2025, Georgian seaports served 12.5 thousand passengers, which is 62% more compared to the previous year.In 2025, ports and terminals of Georgia processed 16 637.6 thousand tons of cargo, 6.8% more compared 2024. 47.7% of freight carried was general cargo, 31% was liquid bulk, and 21.3 percent – dry bulk.

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With regard to the annual core inflation, the prices increased by 2.7%, while the annual core inflation without tobacco amounted to 2.4%.The annual inflation rate was mainly influenced by price changes for the following groups:Food and non-alcoholic beverages: the prices in the group increased by 9.5 percent, contributing 3.2 percentage points to the overall annual inflation rate. Within the group the prices increased for the following subgroups: fish (23.1 percent), bread and cereals (13.8 percent), fruit and grapes (13.3 percent), vegetables (10.2 percent), meat (9.6 percent), sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery (9.4 percent), oils and fats (7.1 percent), coffee, tea and cocoa (5.9 percent), mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices (5.3 percent), milk, cheese and eggs (5.3 percent);Health: the prices increased by 5.9 percent, contributing 0.5 percentage points to the overall index. The prices were higher for the following subgroups: medical products, appliances and equipment (8.1 percent), out-patient services (5.6 percent), hospital services (1.7 percent);Miscellaneous goods and services: the prices for the group increased by 9.8 percent, contributing 0.48 percentage points to the overall index. Within the group, the prices were higher mainly for the following subgroups: personal effects n.e.c. (57.8 percent), insurance (8.5 percent), personal care (4.5 percent);Alcoholic beverages and tobacco: the prices increased by 4.3 percent, with the relevant contribution of 0.28 percentage points to the overall annual inflation rate. The prices increased for both tobacco (7.1 percent) and alcoholic beverages (1.4 percent).

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