Page 2 - bne IntelliNews Georgia country report November 2017

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November 11, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Higher exports and investment push first- half growth in all EBRD countries bar two
income levels. Several countries where the develop- ment bank is active are also experiencing record low unemployment. The negatives in the picture are minimal and are mainly caused by economies run- ning up against structural constraints. Rising inflation is, however, a growing concern in some locations.
Average growth across the EBRD region will be 3.3% this year, the development bank forecast. That equates to a rise of 0.9 percentage points over the previous estimate from the bank that was issued in May at the time of the bank’s annual meeting. Growth in 2016 only reached 1.9%.
The EBRD tracks the economies of 37 emerging countries, where it finances projects and supports reforms that promote sustainable and environmentally-friendly market economies.
Emerging Europe is booming as the bne
IntelliNews magazine reported in this month’s cover story. “The pace of growth has picked up in 27 of the EBRD’s economies this year, the first time that such a broad upturn has been seen since 2010,” the bank said in a press release.
The growth is mixed with Central Europe being the star performer – Czechia and Romania are the outstanding examples, but even the laggard East- ern Europe is seeing many countries like Russia and Belarus put in better than expected results. All economies in the EBRD space, except Azerbai- jan and FYR Macedonia, saw positive growth in the first half of the year.
Several countries, notably Romania and Turkey, are enjoying growth rates comparable to the pre- financial crisis levels of the mid-2000s.
The EBRD’s chief economist, Sergei Guriev, said: “The broad-based recovery is a very welcome devel- opment. It also creates a window of opportunity to carry out reforms that will ensure the sustainability of the stronger growth rates over the longer term.”
Unfortunately, it is usually exactly the time
when it becomes easier to make reforms that governments feel the least need to make them. While the economics of most of the CEE countries