Social and Economic Policy

25 November 2016

Negotiations between Georgia and Russian Federation about the World Trade Organization (WTO): 5 Years After

The World Trade Organization (WTO) consists of 164 member states and is established to harmonize and facilitate trade relations, act as a dispute settlement body. Georgia is member of the WTO since July 14, 2000 . It took 18 years for Russia to become member of the WTO .

22 November 2016

Management, Transparency and Accountability of State-owned Companies

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) have jointly prepared a policy paper titled Management, Transparency and Accountability of State-owned Companies within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum - Georgian National Platform. The policy paper was presented to the Government of Georgia on November 22 during a conference organized by the National Platform.

15 September 2016

Bureaucracy in Tbilisi City Assembly

The Tbilisi City Council budget has doubled over the past years and amounted: in 2011 - GEL 6,072,200; in 2012 - GEL 6,131,800; 2013 - GEL 10,029,700; 2014 - GEL 13,351,400; 2015 - GEL 13,633,300; 2016 Budget Plan - GEL 14,052,000.

28 July 2016

Export Problems in Georgia and Factors Facilitating Export

During the past two years, Georgia's external trade turnover decreased significantly. It is especially true in case of exports. The article discusses export indicators, as well as the dynamics and structural changes during last couple of years.

25 July 2016

Administrative Expenses of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office (2011-2015)

Since 2012 expenses of Georgia's General Prosecutor's Office has significantly raised in accordance with the number of people employees at the structure.

4 July 2016

Challenges of the Universal Healthcare Program and Ways to Overcome Them

This policy brief prepared by IDFI aims to study the challenges faced by the universal healthcare program, and develop recommendations on how to overcome them and how to ensure the program is implemented in an efficient and uninterrupted manner.

30 May 2016

Overpriced Tickets for Teach and Learn with Georgia

IDFI has recently conducted an investigation into the National Center for Teacher Professional Development’s procurement of flights for volunteers participating in its Teach and Learn with Georgia program. Our findings indicate that that there were several irregularities in nine electronic tenders dating back to 2013 and totaling GEL 571,714. As a result, the government may have been significantly overcharged for these flight tickets.

19 May 2016

Problems with the Soft Budgetary (Constraints) Policy

The concept of the soft budgetary constraints, described for the socialist and later for the transformational states, is the fundamental contradiction in terms of macroeconomic stability, causes the increase in costs that happens faster than the mobilizing revenues through taxes, which is the precondition for loan accumulation.

17 May 2016

Ruled Competition in the Healthcare System and Georgian Reforms

Increasing costs of healthcare is the problem of healthcare system in not only Georgia, but in many other countries across the world.

10 May 2016

State Awards Issued by Georgian Presidents in 2003-2015

IDFI requested public information from the President’s Administration on state awards and found that the Georgian Presidents had issued 11,595 awards in 2003-2015, including 5,525 Orders of Honor, 2,541 - Medals of Honor, and 1,160 Medals of Military Courage. The largest number of awards was issued in the final years of Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidency, 2,681 in 2012 and 1,926 in 2013.