Georgia
M&A hits €8.5bn in CEE in Q1, says Mergermarket
Trend towards bigger deals and more fund investment continues, as deal value rises by half to give best Q1 since 2013.
Nakhchivan rail plans promise to rewire Caucasus connections
Iran stands to be one of the winners of the new regional transportation map.
CEE reels as third wave of COVID-19 breaks
A third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping through Emerging Europe. While Russia is expecting to reach herd immunity in the next two months, most other countries of the region have only just started their mass immunisation programmes.
Analysis: Caucasus bond review
Capital markets take war, the pandemic and political unrest in stride. The second in a two-part series.
Rising inflation in Emerging Europe poses dilemma for central banks
With economies primed to rebound as pandemic restrictions are loosened, consumer prices could rise even further, reawakening an issue that has long been ignored.
COMMENT: Democracy is struggling in Georgia
The current political crisis reveals how detached Georgia's political elites have become from the demands of ordinary people.
Top ruling party lawmaker assesses West’s reaction to Georgia’s political crisis as “measured and soft”
Analyst suggests sanctions needed against kingpin oligarch Ivanishvili in effort to defend democracy.
COLCHIS: Georgia is in crisis, but it’s far from the end of democracy
The news from Georgia over the past few days has been depressing. Headlines like, “Georgian opposition leader arrested” and, “opposition HQ stormed” evoke the sort of post-Soviet authoritarianism Georgia wants to put behind itself
OPINION: PM's resignation is a make-or-break moment for Georgia
What next in Georgia following the turmoil in recent days that has seen the PM quit, the leader of the opposition grabbed by security forces and Irakli Garibashvili, who is refusing to hold a snap election, made the new head of government?
Police grab Georgia’s opposition leader after storming barricaded party offices
Move comes after new PM is appointed and declares: “We categorically refuse any negotiations on a snap election! This issue is closed!” Predecessor resigned five days ago saying move to detain UNM head would exacerbate divisions in country.
Georgia’s PM resigns after court orders detention of opposition leader
Amid country’s political crisis sparked by claims of a rigged general election, Giorgi Gakharia says “I want to believe that this step will help reduce polarisation”.
CAUCASUS BLOG: Georgia’s corrupted anti-corruption strategy
“Only 29 percent of Georgians believe that cases of high-level corruption are investigated properly in Georgia, while 47 percent think that they are not,” says Transparency International.
CAUCASUS BLOG : What can Biden offer the Caucasus and Stans, all but forgotten about by Trump?
Unlike his predecessor, the new US president will at least take an interest in issues such as Georgia's deep divisions, organised crime in the Kyrgyz government and Nagorno-Karabakh. But his in-tray is rather full with other pressing matters.
Private finance mobilised by development banks up 9% to $175bn in 2019
Multilateral development banks are already increasing the number of products that are offered to investors and redoubling efforts to address the lack of bankable transactions, says new report.
