The three South Caucasus economies - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia - have performed relatively well since the COVID-19 pandemic, benefiting from certain spillovers of Russia's war against Ukraine. The oil importers Armenia and Georgia achieved double-digit GDP growth in 2022 - 12.6% and 11.0%,...

The purpose of the report is to provide information on access to healthcare in Georgia. This information is relevant to the application of international protection status determination (refugee status and subsidiary protection) and migration legislation in the European Union (EU)+ countries.

From Tbilisi to Yerevan, adversarial narratives are gaining ground in the digital sphere, increasingly targeting the European Union. While the EU maintains a solid digital footprint in Georgia and Armenia, an innovative approach to digital diplomacy, based on AI-enhanced social listening, can...

From Tbilisi to Yerevan, adversarial narratives are gaining ground in the digital sphere, increasingly targeting the European Union. While the EU maintains a solid digital footprint in Georgia and Armenia, an innovative approach to digital diplomacy, based on AI-enhanced social listening, can...

Georgia has made impressive economic progress over the past two decades, achieving strong and resilient economic growth and development despite numerous external and domestic shocks. This Fiscal Incidence Analysis (FIA) report serves as a baseline for evaluating current fiscal policy and...

Technical assistance (TA) was provided to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) during December 2-6, 2024 to extend the scope and coverage of the residential property price index (RPPI) using web-scraped data. This was the latest mission to Georgia in a series since 2018 to...

The Georgian Green Growth Strategy (G3S), based on a model of sustainable development, should be inclusive and allow Georgia to efficiently and sustainably manage its natural resources, minimize pollution and environmental impact, and increase resilience to climate change. Key objectives should...

This Country Program Evaluation assesses the performance and effectiveness of the World Bank Group's support to Georgia in achieving the country's development objectives. In the decade leading up to the evaluation period, Georgia pursued economic reforms to attract critical investments for...

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus and the ensuing political crisis, many women were forced into exile. This article explores how Belarusian women continue their engagement in political, socio-cultural, and economic initiatives abroad, often beyond the traditional...

In 2024, the World Bank Education Team in Georgia, under the analytical activity - Strengthening Higher Education and Research in South Caucasus, issued a call for policy research papers. The objective was to gain insights into existing challenges within the higher education sector from the...

This report describes the bioeconomy policy developments in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine, associated to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. The work extends the geographic coverage of the...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated global dynamics that profoundly impact the post-Soviet South. Relations with Russia are still strong, but the former subalterns are raising their voices. The empowerment is most visible in their foreign relations, but also tends to strengthen...

Now that the European Council has given the green light to opening EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, it is clear that the Union is no longer simply showing symbolic solidarity with neighbours invaded or threatened by Russia. Rather, a new chapter of enlargement policy is...

High-quality childcare services are vital to children's development and family wellbeing but are not equitably accessed by all children. Programs supported by the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) have the potential to reduce these inequities. Economically eligible Black children use...

Georgia's economic performance remains robust. Growth has moderated from double digits but remains high, inflation is low, and fiscal and financial buffers are healthy. EU candidate status has boosted sentiment, but the global environment remains highly uncertain due to ongoing conflicts and...

This CD engagement covered two distinct areas to help the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) deliver on its price stability mandate, it: 1) provided a forward-looking analysis of the NBG's balance sheet to assess its policy solvency and to help institutionalize such a process, and 2) outlined a...

This report updates the Fiscal Transparency Evaluation for Georgia published in 2017. Over the past six years, Georgia has taken significant steps to address the transparency gaps identified in the 2017 assessment. Fiscal reporting has become more comprehensive through an increased coverage of...

Since 25 June 2024, the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) have been engaging in accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. The EU wants and needs to provide a strategic response to new geopolitical challenges, especially the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same...

Evidence on how digital technologies, such as online health information platforms, affect the doctor-patient relationship in general, and the diagnosis and treatment of patients in particular, is still limited. In this study, we explore the effects of alternative information from an online...

The US dollar has been an integral part of everyday life and political-economic order in Georgia for more than three decades. Thinking and planning in two currencies - the Georgian lari and the dollar - is common not only for local companies and the government but also for households. The dollar...

The technical mission aimed to strengthen the cyber risk regulation and supervision, and testing for the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). The mission focused on (i) an assessment of NBG's cyber risk regulation, (ii) an assessment of cyber risk supervisory arrangements of NBG, (iii) assisting in...

This technical assistance (TA) mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) was conducted in Georgia during April 26 - May 24, 2021. The main purpose of the mission was to assist the authorities in extending GFS coverage to include non-market State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and aligning fiscal...

This technical assistance (TA) mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) was conducted in Georgia during January 16- 27, 2023. The main purpose of the mission was to assist the authorities in extending GFS coverage to include non-market State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and aligning fiscal...

In this paper, we use survey data from the South Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) to document the presence of gender gaps in the labor market and examine its consequences. To do the analysis, we use a numerical general-equilibrium occupational choice model with heterogeneous...

Evidence on how digital technologies, such as online health information platforms, affect the doctorpatient relationship in general, and the diagnosis and treatment of patients in particular, is still limited. In this study, we explore the effects of alternative information from an online source...

The dynamics of Austria's economic relations with the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine - and with Russia have deviated from those of the EU in several important ways. During the decade preceding the war in Ukraine, Austrian trade...

Georgia's polarised domestic politics and slow reforms have complicated its relationship with the EU. Autumn 2023 will be a pivotal period for the nation, as the EU will then decide about its candidacy status. While Georgia's full compliance with the EU's 12 recommendations is doubtful,...

This paper analyzes historical census data from the final Soviet census in 1989. We find that, even in the absence of sex-selective abortions, the fertility decisions of Armenian, Georgian, and Azeri parents living in Russia in the late 1970s and the 1980s were significantly more son-biased than...

The primary purpose of this paper is to compare the Georgian and Finnish legislation regulating employment security issues during military and non-military service of the employee working for the private or public sector. The present paper discloses similarities and differences between the...

Remittance flows in emerging market and developing economies were surprisingly resilient during the COVID-19 crisis, providing much-needed income support for remittance-receiving households. However, households were impacted differently across income distributions. Using novel high-frequency...

Connectivity, especially in the transport sector, has become a ubiquitous issue in the South Caucasus in recent years. Transport connectivity also plays a central role in the European Union’s policy towards the region. As part of its Global Gateway Initiative, the EU has made a commitment that...

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the governments of many countries adopted measures to support the population during the lockdowns and periods of reduced economic activity. In the Republic of Georgia, in April 2020 the government announced that it would pay the electricity bills of residential...

This article examines the importance of landholdings in explaining income inequality among family farms in four districts in Georgia following the land reform of the 1990s. Income inequality is decomposed by sources of income and by determinants of income. The results indicate that farm income...

This report explores priorities and challenges faced by Georgia to promote green transition and support its businesses to reduce their emissions through energy efficiency. The report stresses the need for improved incentives and opportunities for business investments in energy efficiency and...

Air pollution profoundly impacts welfare, causing more deaths globally than malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. In the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, air pollution levels exceed international standards and surpass levels in other cities in the region. The average monthly PM2.5...

The goal of the present paper is to analyze changes in the compositional structures of Georgia's economy, explore the related qualitative transformations and explain implications for trade and development. By comparing the evidence of several European countries, we put Georgia's structural...

Remittance flows in emerging market and developing economies were surprisingly resilient during the COVID-19 crisis, providing much-needed income support for remittance-receiving households. However, households were impacted differently across income distributions. Using novel high-frequency...

This technical assistance report on Georgia focuses on operationalizing the new bank recovery and resolution frameworks. The economic environment has improved, as coronavirus disease, 2019 has been brought under control but there are new challenges emerging. Economic growth is strong, interest...

This technical assistance report on Georgia focuses on operationalizing the new bank recovery and resolution frameworks. The Georgian authorities have indicated their interest in operationalizing their recovery, resolution, and crisis management frameworks. The report highlights the need to...

The Country Program Evaluation (CPE) will seek to assess how well the Bank Group-supported strategy was aligned with Georgia's main development challenges and how effective the Bank Group's support was in addressing these challenges. The evaluation seeks to identify lessons that support the...

Since February 2022 - when Russia invaded the Ukraine - the geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus changed dramatically. On the one hand, EU sanctions on Russia made the "Middle Corridor" of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative through the South Caucasus more attractive for China and...