New govt driving Georgia economy into the ground - Intl Chamber of Commerce exec
TBILISI. Nov 24 (Interfax) - The chairman of the Georgian arm of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world's largest business association, claimed on Saturday that not a single foreign investment had been made in Georgia since the new government took office about a month ago, and accused the government of a lack of an investor-friendly policy.
Social instability and strikes are a poor signal to investors, Fady Asly, head of ICC Georgia, told reporters.
He argued that Georgia's economy chiefly depends on foreign capital and warned that, if foreign money stopped coming in, depreciation of the national currency and other woes would befall the Caucasus country.
Not a single foreign investment had been made in Georgia after the new government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili took office, Asly said, predicting that the situation would remain unchanged for at least another three months and arguing that the government needed to urgently draw up a plan of cooperation with investors.
Asly credited the previous government with always being open to contact with investors and complained that current ministers do not answer either telephone calls or emails.
Citing one example, Asly said Turkish investors had lost interest in energy projects that they had been going to run in Georgia under memorandums of understanding with the former government.
The Turkish investors disliked the new Georgian government's promises to reduce electricity prices because they had seen electricity as the main source of compensation for their investments, he said.
Ivanishvili's initiative to set up a sovereign co-investment fund to provide 75% of the cost of any investment project is a mixed blessing, according to Asly. Few companies would risk competition with the government with all its money and power, he explained.
ICC brings together hundreds of thousands of companies in more than 120 countries.