Georgian people victim of pawnshops

According to semi-official statistics, each fifth adult citizen of Georgia is a pawnshop consumer. The statistics also illustrates that owing to high interest rates, many people lose their properties, as they are unable to pay back their loans. However, the “easy money” temptation encourages them to use the service. At the end of 2013, there were more than one-thousand entities involved in such activities. There were almost 700,000 clients of such shops, and great portion of the consumers are physical entities. More than 300,000 million GEL are borrowed by the people. The statistics are disastrous; people are losing their houses, flats and valuables. More than 60% of pawnshop consumers live in Tbilisi.

Analysts and civil sector representatives ask the state to take urgent measures to regulate the rules of pawnshop activities.