Competetive Advantages of Imereti, Guria and Racha-Lechkhumi Tbilisi 2019 Research report: Competitive Advantages of Imereti, Guria and Racha- Lechkhumi is elaborated by Caucasus University, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) and City Institute Georgia (CIG ) Research authors: Ioseb Berikashvili, Ioseb Salukvadze, Otar Kakhidze, Irakli Gabriadze, Davit Petriashvili, Ia Iashvili; Elene Darjania The authors express their gratitude to the CTC staff for the organizational support in the preparation of the research report. Special thanks go to the governors of Imereti, Guria and Racha-Lechkhumi and all the representatives of the municipalities of these regions, who contributed by providing information necessary for creating this report. This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. 1 Contents Maps used in the research ........................................................................................ 2 List of the tables ......................................................................................................... 3 List of figures ............................................................................................................... 4 Spatial Features of the Research Area .................................................................. 6 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 6 Imereti ................................................................................................................................... 7 Guria ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Racha-Lechkhumi ............................................................................................................... 10 Normative and Strategic DocumentAnalysis ....................................................... 18 Pilot Integrated Regional Development Programme 2020-2022 ............................. 21 Develoment Strategy of Guria Region 2014-2021 ..................................................... 22 Delimitation of the Functional Region and Identifying Centres of Gravity ............... 27 Outcomes of Singling out Possible Functional Regions .............................................. 27 Analysis of the Functional Region Formation Factors ................................................ 29 Centresand Sub-Centresof Gravity ................................................................................ 32 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 36 Analysis of Competetive Sectors in Guria..................................................................... 37 Identifying Competitive Sectors in Imereti ................................................................... 52 Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ............................................................................ 64 Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 80 Maps used in the research Map 1- Location and compostion of the research region Error! Bookmark not defined.7 Map 2–Versions of probable functional region’s configuration on the research territory ................................................................................ 28 Mapა 3–a fragment from the proximity map of throughfare with 20 km. gradation ........................................................................................... 31 Map 4 - map of the research territory from Kutaisi with 50 km buffer .... 31 Map 5–Tbilisi and Kutaisi agglomerations ............................................... 33 2 Map 6–Results of the communication matrix of the research region for the first and second class towns ............................................................... 34 List of the tables Table 1General characteristics of the research region ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 2- the number of the subjects registered and active in Georgia according to the regions ...................................................................... 14 Table 3–Distrbution of direct foreign investments according to the regions .......................................................................................................... 17 Table 4–Jin’s coefficient according to the regions .................................. 18 Table 5–Classification of the centers of gravity ...................................... 35 Table 6– the number of registerd and active entities ............................... 41 Table 7–Location Quotient in Guria......................................................... 41 Table 8–Shift Share Analysis ............................................................... 43 Table 9–Changes in added value ............................................................ 44 Table 10–Calculating the total sums ..................................................... 45 Table 11–the number of guests at the hotels and hotel-like institutions * the number of guests according to the place and purpose of arrival (2017) (comments on the dynamics) ................................................................. 48 Table 12–The number of registered and active enterprises in the trade sector ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 13–Birth and death of enterprises in the construction sector ....... 48 Table 14–The index of survival of the enterprises born in 2015 ................. 48 Table 15- The number of allocation capacity and regional distribution ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 16–Entrepreneur survey findings (except indivudual entrepreneurs) . 50 Table 17: the number of the employed in the business sector ............ Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 18: Average monthly wages of the hired labour .................................. Table 19 - Imereti–Location Quotient .................................................... 55 Table 20–Imereti – Shift share analysis ................................................ 56 Table 21–Shift Share Analysis, VAT ....................................................... 57 Table 22–Calculating the total scores ................................................... 58 Table 23–Birth and death of enterprises and their survival rate ............... 63 Table 24–Location Quotient calculated according to the number of the employed ............................................................................................ 68 Table 25–Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti - Shift share analysis ...... 69 3 Table 26 - Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti - Shift share analysi, VAT .......................................................................................................... 71 Table 27–Calculating total scores .......................................................... 72 Table 28–Business demography quotients ............................................. 76 List of figures Figure 1–Distribution of Gross Domestic Product according to the territorial units (2017) ....................................................................................... 12 Figure 2–Number of the employed according to the regions (2017) ........... 13 Figure 3– per capita GDP in 2017 (Thousand GEL) ................................. 14 Figure 4–Business sector output per person in 2017 (Thousand GEL) ....... 15 Figure 5–Average monthly payment of the hired labouraccording to the regions .............................................................................................. 15 Figure 6–Investments in the fixed assets according to the regions (2017, mln GEL) ............................................................................................. 16 Figure 7–Investments in the fixed assets (per capita) ............................ 16 Figure 8–Unemployment rates according to the regions ......................... 18 Figure 9 - Answer distribution to the question of delimitation of the fuctional region ................................................................................... 28 Figure 10–Factors to identify a functional region ................................... 30 Figure 11–the population number according to themunicipalities of the research regions (except Kutaisi) ......................................................... 32 Figure 12–Shift in the population of the city of Kutaisi in 1989-2018 . .... 33 Figure 13–Population (in thousands) ..................................................... 37 Figure 14–GDP according to the sectors (in current prices, lm. GEL, % 2017) ................................................................................................ 38 Figure 15–The number of the employed in the private sector .................. 38 Figure 16– Average monthly payment of the hired labour ....................... 39 Figure 17– Overall indicators of the hotel and restaurant sector ............. 46 Figure 18–Investments in the fixed assets ............................................ 46 Figure 19–Number of employed in the hotel and restaurants sector ........ 47 Figure 20–Population (in thousands) ..................................................... 52 Figure 21–GDP according to the sectors (in current prices, mln GEL %, in 2017) ...............................................................................................