At the end of 2010, USAID launched the EPI project. The project aims to support businesses operating in different economic spheres of Georgia, together with promoting increased overall economic competitiveness for the country’s sustainable development. The survey research aims to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and experience of medium and large Georgian businesses and a nationally representative sample of the general public regarding select topics directly related to the EPI project. For businesses, the survey also contained questions specific to certain value chains to provide information for program targeting and gain insight into business perceptions. The business survey also included a replica of the 15 EPI-selected WEF indicator questions, which were handed to respondents for self-completion and were formatted as close as possible to the online Executive Opinion Survey. These perception surveys will be conducted annually to track changes in perceptions of select EPI project indicators.
The Georgia EPI will improve enterprise, industry, and country-level competitiveness through the following three components (1) expand and deepen
Georgia’s economic governance capacity and country-level competitiveness; (2) improve private sector competitiveness in (a) the agricultural sector and (b) nonagricultural industries; and (3) crosscutting activities.
The research is composed of two different surveys:
- EPI Competitiveness Perception Survey – Household Survey
- EPI Competitiveness Perception Survey – Business/Enterprise Survey
A brief description of the main results of both surveys is summarized in the executive summary with more detail provided in the appendices. The EPI project was provided with complete data sets from the surveys for further analysis and reference.