Magnum Ice Cream Company — recently spun off from Unilever’s ice cream division — made its market debut on Euronext Amsterdam on Monday under the ticker TMICC, opening at €12.20, slightly below its reference price of €12.80, Azernews reports, citing foreign media.
Day: December 8, 2025
Georgia’s 2026 budget
Transparency International Georgia has published an analysis of the final draft of Georgia’s 2026 state budget. The organisation reports that, under the plan, the prime minister’s salary will be 43 times higher than that of pensioners.
In addition, six government agencies will be abolished from 2026, which employed 456 people in 2025. These include the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Special Investigative Service, the National Security Council administration, the civil service bureau, the business ombudsman’s office, and the administration of South Ossetia.
Key points to know:
➤ Salaries for the prime minister, president, and parliament speaker will rise from 14,600 to 16,000 lari. Ministerial salaries will increase from 12,410 to 13,600 lari, while MPs’ salaries will go up from 11,680 to 12,800 lari.
➤ The number of staff in budgetary organisations will increase by 166, with the largest growth in the prosecution service, audit office, and Ministry of Internal Affairs.
➤ Foreign grants planned for 2026 total 85 million lari, half the amount received in 2024 but 27 million lari more than in 2025.
➤ Existing EU grants will be cancelled, as was the case in 2025.
➤ Capital projects are allocated 6.1 billion lari, 565 million lari less than in 2025. The largest cuts are in high-speed highway construction and the development of educational and scientific infrastructure.
➤ The biggest increase in funding will go to the Ministry of Health, reaching 9.7 billion lari.
➤ Funding for defence and security agencies will rise by 486 million lari.
➤ The 2026 budget allocates 53 million lari for the development of the deepwater port in Anaklia. This is down from 153 million lari in the first draft, a reduction of 100 million lari in the final version.
➤ The government will take on 5.1 billion lari in debt in 2026, including 3.3 billion lari in external debt, of which 1.4 billion lari will be used to refinance eurobonds.
➤ By the end of 2026, the state debt is expected to reach 38.2 billion lari, or 33.5% of projected GDP.
➤ In 2026, the government will raise 1.6 billion lari more than in 2025, mainly due to refinancing eurobonds issued in 2021.
Georgia’s 2026 budget
Azerbaijan has demonstrated notable improvements across several key dimensions of water security between 2013 and 2025, according to the Asian Development Bank’s newly released “Asia Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2025” report, Azernews reports. The report evaluates water security through multiple indicators, including the condition of agricultural households, economic water security, urban infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and preparedness for natural disasters. According to the ADB, Azerbaijan recorded its strongest progress in the urban sector, with an increase of…