BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 23
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Georgian economy in the state of so called “forced inactivity”, Head of Finance & Analytics at Georgian Hualing Free Industrial Zone (FIZ) Vakhtang Chkareuli told Trend.
According to him, manufacturing and services were halted or slowed, consumption is still weakened, thus imports and exports are substantially reduced.
"Pandemic breakdown is being transmitted to Free Zones through various channels and I’d like to mention two most important ones," he added.
"Generally, slightly more, than 75 percent of the companies in Free Zones are SMEs, what means that they have less flexibility to attract additional funding for liquidity or to modify their expenses so that they can stay tuned," Chkareuli said.
According to him, existing companies in Free Zones were unable to receive raw materials from their suppliers and even those who had kept some stocks, were unable to sell their goods and services due to negative aggregate supply and demand shocks. Thus, they could not generate revenues. It is clear, that this was directly reflected in the downfall of revenues of the free zones around the globe.
"As for us, our actual results lagged behind the budgeted figures by 28 percent for the first half of 2020, but at the moment the process of recovery is being boosted and we hope to get back on track soon," Chkareuli noted.
Hualing Free Industrial Zone (Hualing Kutaisi FIZ) is the manufacturing and trading zone in Kutaisi, Georgia offering companies 100 percent tax-free operations.
Free Zone covers the territory of 36 hectares and it is located in Kutaisi – the second-largest populated city of Georgia, on the territory, owned by the company. Considering its low proximity to Kutaisi International Airport (19 km), Port of Poti (95 km), and the highway connecting to capital Tbilisi (210 km), Hualing Kutaisi Free Industrial Zone represents an important trading and industrial hub within the country and the region.
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