Tbilisi: Minister of Finance of Georgia Lasha Khutsishvili gave a speech at the presentation of the Research Institute of International Trade and Investments (RIITI). During his speech, he stressed the importance of international trade and investment in developing relations between countries as well Georgia’s macroeconmic stability.
Finance Minister Khutsihvili spoke about international rating company Fitch’s improvement of Georgia’s sovereign credit rating perspective from stable to positive, as well as the government’s post-pandemic macroeconomic policies, which resulted in a reduction of government debt to pre-pandemic levels; reduction of fiscal deficit; international reserves.
According to the minister, the country’s investment policy is focused on creating a healthy environment for investment and business.
As Lasha Khutsishvili noted, Georgia continues to work to achieve investment rating. According to him, Georgia has progressed in areas such as macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline, reduction of external conditions, improving the quality of governance.
According to the Finance Minister, geopolitical risks remain a challenge, but these risks are compensated by the quality and predictable macroeconomic policies the country has recently had.
As per him, one of the most significant directions for Georgia is the income level per capita and namely the reduction of external conditions. Improving the quality of governance and encouraging investment will contribute to higher economic and revenue growth.
As one of the factors contributing to the investment environment, the Finance Minister cited state investments in projects that will support private investments in transport, logistics and international trade. For example, he named strategic projects such as the Black Sea power cable, Anaklia deepwater port, large-scale road and tourism infrastructure, and others.
Further he noted, the establishment of an International Trade and Investment Research Institute and more research in this direction will help countries utilize the investment and the business potential that lies in the Georgian region.
