How to re-orient Georgia’s economy towards exports

The economic programme of the Georgian Government for 2008-2012, which is entitled ‘Georgia Without Poverty,’ envisages that exports will account for 40% of GDP. Thus in order to fulfil this programme the Georgian economy should be oriented towards exports. Free trade development should facilitate this process and the total volume of export production should come to 80%.

There already exists a special programme of substituting imports with exports. A list of around 10,000 products which could be exported with a Georgian label around the world has been drawn up. However in reality such a list is virtual. The Ministry of Economic Development has created a special department for facilitating exports but so far it has not produced anything viable.

Moreover some economic analysts are very skeptical about the possibility of increasing export production in Georgia, in particular against the background of economic crisis. However there are some experts who consider that the crisis could be very favourable for increasing export perspectives. For instance analyst Soso Archuadze thinks that during crises the prices of modern machinery and technical facilities decrease, giving the Government the opportunity to purchase new technology for the production of goods locally. In particular he recommends that this could be done to improve agricultural production and processing, thus encouraging exports.