Page 11 - GEORptJun22

against Ukraine, about 85,000 Russian citizens and 113 IT companies have arrived in Armenia,” the Ukrainian Intelligence Service said in a statement. "Russian citizens have created about 1,000 private enterprises and more than 250 LLCs in Armenia, paying taxes to the budgets of both countries - Armenia and Russia," the statement says.
Earlier in April, the intelligence service of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said that Moscow was preparing a corridor for smuggling through Georgia. This accusation was rejected by the Georgian authorities. The intelligence service then also stated that representatives of the Georgian Security Service had been instructed by the political leadership not to interfere in the activities of the smugglers.
Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili refuted Kyiv's "completely incomprehensible" accusation that Georgia is negotiating with Russia on the re-export of Russian products on 2 May. According to the minister, this is the second time we hear such accusations from Kyiv, but "unfortunately, in this case, no additional information was provided on this statement." According to him, the Georgian authorities will ask Kyiv for additional information, "on the basis of which such statements are made."
The Azerbaijani and Armenian sides have not commented on the accusation yet.
According to experts, Georgia is already on its way to suffering economic damage due to sanctions. Amid criticism from Kyiv, Russia allowed the import of Georgian (along with China, Moldova, Serbia, Belarus and Azerbaijan) dairy products, which Tbilisi considered a good opportunity. Earlier, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that Georgia would not join the sanctions, citing national interests and possible damage to Georgian producers. Garibashvili's decision drew sharp criticism from within the country, including from President Salome Zurabishvili.
2.8 Polls & Sociology
CEE companies weather the COVID-19 crisis
CEE and Eurasian businesses have weathered the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to prompt and decisive government intervention, financial lifelines and firms’ involvement in global value chains, says a report by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) published last week.
Using data from the EBRD-EIB-World Bank Group Enterprise Survey, together with surveys of 16,000 companies after the pandemic (but before the Russian invasion of Ukraine), the report found that CEE and Eurasian companies on average lost 25% of their revenue and shed 11% of their workers in the first wave of the pandemic.
However, only 4% of firms filed for bankruptcy or closed permanently in 2020. “Strong government intervention such as job retention programmes, grants, debt moratoriums, guarantees, tax breaks and interest rate subsidies softened the pandemic’s blow,” the EIB said in a press release.
Beata Javorcik, chief economist of the EBRD, told a webcast on the report hosted by the EIB on May 18 that bankruptcies last year in the region were below pre-COVID levels, though “we have not seen the real picture yet”
11 GEORGIA Country Report June 2022 www.intellinews.com