Milestones in Georgia\'s Transformation to a Market Economy
- In the World Bank’s 2009 “Doing Business Survey,” Georgia improved its overall ranking from 112th to 15th still being the member among the top ten reformer countries. According to the Heritage Foundation in 2008 Georgia has further improved its ranking from 35th to 32nd in the Economic Freedom Index.
- Construction of two new pipelines across Georgia increases its role as a strategic crossroad for hydrocarbon transit in the Caspian region.
- Total licenses and permits reduced by 84%, in reforms that eliminated 756 licenses and permits, streamlined procedures, and introduced statutory time limits for government action on applications.
- Customs clearance times reduced from 52 to 15 days for imports and from 54 to 13 days for exports as reported by the World Bank's Doing Business 2007 survey. A new Customs regime is producing further reductions.
- Fewer taxes and lower rates were introduced by a new Tax Code and further cuts are planned. Continuing modernization of tax and customs administration is reducing compliance costs and increasing revenues.
- Liberal Labor Code, recognized on international indices as one of the world's best, reduces labor costs and increases employer flexibility.
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The number of registered taxpayers almost tripled from 2005 to 2008 after introduction of simplified registration procedures for legal entities and physical persons.
- Liberal Trade Regimes: Georgia has low tariffs, streamlined border clearance procedures and preferential trade regimes with major trade partners. Member of the WTO since 2000 Georgia has no quantitative restrictions on trade.
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Shock Resilient Market: Georgia has proved to be highly resilient to external shocks such as energy and commodity prices, Russian embargo, Russian-Georgian conflict, global financial and economic crisis.
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