Georgia keeps advancing in rankings
In a span of the last six years (2012–2018), Georgia has advanced in numerous prominent international rankings and indexes. These surveys were conducted by prestigious international institutions including, World Bank Ease of Doing Business, Fraser Institute, Moody’s Investors Club, International Budget Partnership, World Economic Forum, The Heritage Foundation, Transparency International, Reporters Without Borders, the World Justice Project, the International Telecommunications Union, and World Governance Indicators. The published rankings cover the following areas: economy, governance, corruption, rule of law and freedom of speech/media.
ECONOMY
Georgia is one of the top performers in implementing business-friendly reforms. According to the recently published World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business 2019’ (DB) report, Georgia is the leader in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). The country improved its position from 9th place last year (DB 2018 ranking) to the 6th place this year regarding business-friendly environment among 190 countries. Georgia’s overall progress (+ 0.48) resulted from Georgia’s enhanced scores in multiple criteria including, Starting a Business (+1.50) Dealing with Construction Permit (+ 0.04), Paying Taxes (+1.89), Enforcing Contracts (+0.93), Resolving Insolvency (+0.44).
With the sixth position in the ranking, Georgia jumped over the U.K. and the U.S. Along with New Zealand, Georgia requires just one procedure to start a business, the least worldwide.
“This milestone is a step ahead in terms of integrating Georgia into the global economy. This ranking verifies that the reforms that Georgian Government is conducting contributes to the economic growth of Georgia and I am delighted to see that the most prestigious ranking of the World Bank recognizes our progress,” said Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze at a press-conference with World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus Mercy Tembon. “I would like to congratulate the government and the people of Georgia for this performance and encourage you to keep up the reforms and keep up the spirit to move up in the rankings next year,” commented Ms. Tembon.
Georgia achieved significant progress in the protection of property rights. The country’s position moved up from 120th place in 2012 to 66th place in the 2018 World Economic Forum and Fraser Institute’s joint rankings.
Market efficiency is another area where Georgia made remarkable progress. In the Extent of Market Dominance ranking by the World Economic Forum, Georgia advanced from 122nd place to 67th. In recognition of government reforms on taxation that encouraged investments, Georgia was named among the top 14 countries in the Effect of Taxation on Incentives to Invest rankings and among the top 25 countries in the Prevalence of Non-Tariff Barriers rankings. The country also moved from 52nd place to 29th as the Import Share in GDP Decreased.
Georgia was also recognized for fostering a desirable environment for new and existing businesses. In the Business Impact of Rules on FDI, conducted by The World Economic Forum, Georgia moved from 53rd place to 29th place In the Business Freedom rankings by the Heritage Foundation, Georgia maintains the 16th position in 2018.
Georgia moved up to the 48th position in 2017–2018 Macroeconomic Environment rankings, a remarkable leap from 137th in 2012 (World Economic Forum).
Georgia saw the biggest leap in rankings when it came to inflation. The country ascended 114 places from 2012, rebounding from 115th place in Inflation rankings to 1st place in 2017 (World Economic Forum).
Georgia’s economic performance was recognized by The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which increased the 2018 economic growth forecast of Georgia to 5.5%. Although economic growth has softened recently, it is expected to accelerate over the medium term, supported by structural reforms. IMF team led by Ms. Mercedes Vera Martin visited Tbilisi in October to discuss the third review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The program aims to support Georgia’s ambitious reform agenda to generate higher and more inclusive growth and to reduce economic and financial vulnerabilities.
Another acknowledgement of Georgia’s economic reforms came from Moody’s Investors Club, which provides credit ratings, research, tools, and analysis that contribute to transparent and integrated financial markets.
“Georgia’s economy has proved resilient to a significant economic, financial and exchange rate shock in the region in 2014–16. Georgia’s GDP growth averaged 3.4% during this period when many of its neighbors were in or close to recession. We attribute this resilience to effective macroeconomic policy management and strong banking supervision that allowed banks to continue to finance the economy,” Moody’s assessment of Georgia’s rating stated.
In the Sovereign Credit Rating, Georgia advanced from Ba3 to Ba2, affirming the stability of Georgian economy.
GOVERNANCE
In Fraser Institute’s Index of Economic Freedom, Georgia advanced from 14th position in 2012 to the 7th in 2018.
In the Open Budget Index 2017, Georgia is placed 5th concerning access to Government-held information for the Public.
The United Nations recognized Georgia’s significant progress as Georgia was named Chairman of the UN-run Open Governance Partnership Group, which is composed of 74 nations.
This year’s Open Governance Partnership Summit 2018 was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, once again highlighting the progress that Georgia has made in transparent governance.
CORRUPTION, CYBER SECURITY, MEDIA FREEDOM
The 2017 Freedom from Corruption index also demonstrates improvement for Georgia. Georgia reached 46th place among 176 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) (this is a jump by 5 positions since 2012).
According to the 2017 Irregular Payments and Bribes Index by the World Economic Forum, Georgia ranks 30th among 100 states.
Regarding media freedom, in 2018 World Press Index, since 2012, Georgia advanced by 44 points to 61st in 2018, which is a three step progress since last year according to Reporters without Borders.
The National Cyber Security Index is one of the highest for Georgia, which maintained 19th place among 100 states, according to the ITU Global Cyber Security Index rankings.
The World Justice Project (WJP) released its 2017–2018 Rule of Law Index. Georgia ranks 38th out of 113 foreign states in the survey, showing high scores in the order and security component, open governance, and the protection of fundamental rights. Georgia is a regional leader in the Rule of Law Index, with the best score among the other 12 Eastern European and Central Asian countries.
World Justice Project (WJP) also published 2018 Open Government Around the World rankings, where Georgia holds 29th position among 102 Countries. Georgia is the leader in the region ranking ahead of six EU member states.
World Governance Indicators Dataset 2017, which combines major rankings and assigns points to the countries accordingly, also highlighted the progress that Georgia has made.
In Rule of Law 2017 Indicators, Georgia received 62.98 points out of 100, which ranks the country ahead of Greece 56.73, Italy 62.70, Armenia 49.52.
In Control of Corruption 2017 Indicators, Georgia has 77.40 points out of 100, ranking Georgia ahead of Greece 52.40, Italy 61.54, Armenia 32.19
In Government Effectiveness 2017 Indicators, Georgia receoved 72.12 points out of 100, ranking ahead of Greece 66.35, Italy 69.71, Armenia 50.00,
In Regulatory Quality 2017 Indicators, Georgia received 81.73 above Greece 62.98, Italy 75.00, Armenia 64.42.