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Country Snapshot - Georgia  

HighlightsRankingsQuantitative DataLegislationAnalytical WorkProject Portfolio
  • Eastern Europe & Central Asia
  • Lower middle income
  • 4,428,544 (2011)
  • 2,690
Georgia Flag
Below are select highlights for the data included in the profile.

  1. In the latest Doing Business Report (2011), Georgia is ranked 12th out of 183 economies, recording a 1-point increase this year. The most significant improvements relate to two indicators. In Getting Credit, Georgia improved access to credit by implementing a central collateral registry with an electronic database accessible online. The country also strengthened investor protections by allowing greater access to corporate information during the trial.
  2. According to the latest Enterprise Surveys (2008), the top three constraints to investment in Georgia are Access to Finance, Political Instability, and Electricity. Among the local firms surveyed, 41% of them report having a line of credit or loan from a financial institution, compared to 43% for the region. As regards to the lack of electricity, firms also report that power outages last 8.37 hours, compared to 4.54 hours for the region and 5.41 hours for all countries surveyed.
  3. Georgia is one of the most open countries to foreign equity ownership as measured by the Investing Across Sectors indicators. All of the 33 sectors covered by the indicators are fully open to foreign investment. There are neither sectors with monopolistic or oligopolistic market structures nor any perceived difficulties in obtaining any required operating licenses. With only 4 procedures and 4 days, Georgia (Tbilisi) is among the fastest countries in the world in terms of establishing a foreign-owned limited liability company (LLC).
  4. The Index of Economic Freedom 2011 gave Georgia a score of 70.4, making its economy the 29th freest out of 183 countries in the 2011 Index. Its overall score is unchanged from last year, with gains in monetary freedom largely cancelled out by increased government spending. Georgia is ranked 15th out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is higher than the world average. The Georgian economy has maintained its status as a ‘mostly free’ economy in the 2011 Index. Notable reforms in business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, and labor freedom have spurred economic development in recent years.