Georgia: Seizing the Opportunity toProsper suggests a path towards sustainable and sharedgrowth. Georgia s story is associated with three stylizedfacts: high growth with persistent unemployment currently atnearly 15 percent after 10 years of annual growth thataveraged above 5.5 percent; a doing business rank of 8 outof 189 countries achieved without recovery to 1990 levels ofper capita income suggesting a relatively difficulttransition experience in spite of noteworthy success withseveral governance and business environment reforms; andobstinate socio-economic vulnerabilities reflected inGeorgia s status as one of the poorest countries in theEurope and Central Asia (ECA) region of the World Bank witha relatively weak performance on reducing poverty andinequality. Georgia is well positioned to achieve itsdevelopment objectives. The main challenge is persistentjoblessness, which must be addressed to establish asustainable basis for the pro-poor development modeloutlined in the Government s Socio-Economic Strategy 2020.This report, which is anchored in the Government sSocio-economic Development Strategy 2020, explores thepotential for improved export competitiveness to strengthenemployment growth in Georgia and is intended to inform apolicy agenda mainly focused on the demand side of the labor market.
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