Month: April 2025
Georgia’s estimated real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate amounted to 9.0% for March 2025 compared to the previous year’s corresponding time, the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) reported on April 30.
According to Geostat, the following activities contributed significantly to the growth: information and communication; professional, scientific, and technical activities; financial and insurance activities; transportation and storage; and construction.
A decline was registered in manufacturing.
Based on Geostat, the average real GDP growth for January-March 2025 equaled 9.3%.
Also Read:
- 21/03/2025 – Georgia’s GDP Up by 8.3% in Q4’24
- 28/02/2025 – Georgia’s GDP Up by 11.1% in January 2025
- 19/12/2024 – Georgia’s GDP Up by 11% in Q3’24
Cattle market in Armenia. Photography by Yulia Grigoryants @yuliagrigoryanc pic.twitter.com/W2XrvvqelU
— Notes from Georgia/South Caucasus (Hälbig, Ralph) (@SouthCaucasus) April 30, 2025
Russia and Georgian Dream block Georgia’s path to EU
Former Foreign Minister of Georgia (2015–2018) Mikheil Janelidze has responded to EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos’s statement on the possible suspension of Georgia’s visa-free regime and the freezing of its EU candidate status.
In an interview with Radio Liberty, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the EU may revoke Georgia’s visa-free travel to Europe, but stressed that it would hurt the Georgian people. According to her, Brussels is considering freezing Georgia’s EU candidate status and reviewing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement as a response to the country’s democratic backsliding.
Mikheil Janelidze:
“At the very moment we came close to our historic goal — full membership in the European family — Russia, through Georgian Dream, is killing this opportunity for our country.
They are deliberately and rapidly destroying all free spaces and free people for whom EU membership is a core value.
The EU’s attempts to prevent Georgia’s loss through dialogue with Georgian Dream will lead to the same outcome as dialogue with Putin.
This is confirmed by the response from Parliament Speaker Papuashvili: ‘We’ve said this many times, and Brussels is well aware of how the Georgian people feel and what grievances they have against Brussels.’ This reply essentially equates Georgian Dream with the Georgian people — and the European Union with the Soviet Union.”
Russia and Georgian Dream block Georgia’s path to EU
Georgian NGOs respond to raids on activists
Georgian non-governmental organisations have reacted to the coordinated searches of the homes of activists and foundation leaders, calling on international partners to clearly state their position regarding the situation in Georgia.
According to the statement, the government and law enforcement agencies are targeting people at the forefront of humanitarian work who support the most vulnerable groups in society, including persons with disabilities, internally displaced people, low-income families, and victims of violence.
What the statement says
“Non-governmental organisations play a vital role in areas where state support is insufficient, providing food, shelter, medical care, education, and psychosocial services to those most in need.
The use of state power to suppress the work of such foundations is not only morally unjustifiable, but it also criminalises acts of compassion and silences those who fight for dignity and justice. The raids, carried out without proper legal grounds or transparency, are politically motivated and part of a broader campaign against civil society and democratic institutions.
This attack is part of a wider trend of democratic backsliding in Georgia, which includes the adoption of the ‘foreign agents’ law, the crackdown on the media, and ongoing pressure on independent organisations. All of this threatens the freedom of association and expression, the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration, and its international reputation.
We call on Georgia’s international partners to clearly state their position on these actions and to support the Georgian people and civil society at this critical moment.
We will not be intimidated. We will continue to support those in need. We will defend Georgia’s democratic future.”
On 28 April, the Prosecutor’s Office conducted coordinated raids on the homes of foundation leaders providing aid to protesters and political prisoners.
Searches were carried out at the homes of Nanuka Zhorzholiani, Mariam Badzhelidze, Guga Khelaia, and Aleko Tsikitishvili. Prosecutors entered the residences on the basis of a judge’s ruling. The warrant states that the investigation concerns charges of “sabotage” and “aiding a foreign state, foreign organisation, or an organisation under foreign control in conducting hostile activities.”
Notably, the one-party parliament dominated by Georgian Dream recently amended the Criminal Code to include a new article on “high treason,” under which “sabotage and aiding hostile activities of a foreign state” would now be treated as acts of treason.
On 17 March, the assets of several funds that provided assistance to fined protesters and the families of political prisoners were frozen. These included the accounts of the Nanuka Fund, as well as those of Nika Gilauri’s fund and the Tbilisi Human Rights House.
According to a statement by Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office, the funds were seized as part of an investigation into “sabotage” and “activities directed against the constitutional order.”
Georgian NGOs respond to raids on activists
According to the National Statistic Office of Georgia (Geostat), in the first quarter of 2025, Russia emerged as the leading country of origin for visitors to Georgia, accounting for 19.3% of the total number, with 187.7 thousand visitors. Turkey ranked second with a 16.5% share, followed by Armenia with 13%.
International non-resident traveler arrivals to Georgia reached 1.3 million, marking a 1.1% increase compared to the same period of the last year. Nearly half (47.4%) of all travelers were aged between 31-50.
Geostat reports that the majority of visits (42.2%) were for holiday, leisure, and recreation, amounting to 494.7 thousand. Tbilisi and Adjara Autonomous Republic received the most visits – 665.7 thousand and 301.8 thousand, respectively.
Also Read:
- 25/04/2025 – Russians Lead in Obtaining Georgian Citizenship in 2024
- 30/04/2024 – Visitors from Turkey, Russia Dominate as Largest Group of International Visitors in Q1 2024
- 30/01/2024 – Russians Dominate as Largest Group of International Visitors to Georgia in 2023
- 14/11/2023 – Russians Dominate as Largest International Visitors to Georgia in Third Quarter
- 23/10/2023 – Number of International Travelers up 43% in January-September, 2023