Hydropower’s Decline of 8.6% and Need for New Plants - G&T Review

Import dynamics and pricesAccording to Galt & Taggart’s electricity market review, the total value of imports increased by 30.9% in March to $5.9 million. In terms of volume, Russia was still the largest supplier, however, as Russian imports mainly included preferential supplies intended for the Abkhazian region, it took only second place in terms of value.The increase in Turkey’s share of commercial imports was driven by competitive pricing compared to Azerbaijan. In March, the average price of electricity imported from Turkey was 4.6 US cents per kWh, while the cost of Azerbaijani energy was 6 US cents.According to analysts, Turkey’s re-establishment among the main suppliers indicates a gradual change in the geography of imports, which is due to a combination of price and technical factors.Balancing marketIn March, the average price of balancing electricity decreased by 5.7% year-on-year and amounted to 5.7 US cents per kWh. At the same time, the balancing volume increased by 14.8% (0.4 TWh), which amounted to more than a third (33.4%) of the country’s total supply.

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Repressive Legislation and Police ImpunityThe annual report “The State of Human Rights in the World” states that peaceful protesters, journalists and opposition figures in Georgia were subjected to “arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment” in 2024.The organization assessed that the police systematically used unlawful force, including tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, injuring hundreds of people.According to the report, the authorities used legislative changes to intensify the repression, including large fines for blocking the road or wearing masks. Amnesty International emphasizes that despite the facts of violence, no police officers were held accountable.The judicial system and political persecutionThe document describes in detail “unfair trials”, where defendants were denied bail without evidence. The report cites specific cases, including the cases of journalist Mzia Amaglobeli and activists Saba Skhvitaridze, Omar Okribelashvili and Saba Meparishvili, who were sentenced to prison on politically motivated charges.In addition, the organization draws attention to the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, on the basis of which the authorities froze the accounts of independent NGOs and began to persecute their leaders. In October, the ruling party even filed a constitutional lawsuit demanding the banning of three leading opposition associations.Gender-based violence and harassmentAmnesty International is particularly concerned about the gender-based violence against female protesters. The report mentions the cases of opposition leader Elene Khoshtaria and activist Kristina Botkoveli, who were subjected to degrading treatment and forced undressing during detention.According to the organization, the “cleansing” of state institutions in Georgia has affected all spheres, and law enforcement and oversight bodies have become “instruments of political revenge” in the hands of the ruling team.The Georgian government has yet to officially comment on this Amnesty International report.

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According to the bank, transactions in any currency on international platforms have become profitable for Silk users.Silk Bank card (debit) purchases are returned 1% (Apple Pay) and 0.5% (Google Pay).According to TBC and the Bank of Georgia, TBC, Bank of Georgia and Liberty have imposed a commission on payments in GEL (GEL) with a debit card in international channels (from April 15).Liberty's new owner, Basisbank, is not increasing the commission for Basis's clients, but it is not canceling Liberty's customers either.As you know, the Chinese Hualing Group acquired Liberty's assets with a secured loan (according to widespread information, TBC credited it). However, the merger process has not yet begun.When paying with a debit card through international e-commerce or/at a POS terminal, a 1.5% commission applies only to GEL (max: GEL 10). When choosing a foreign currency for payment (USD, EUR, GBP ...), the commission is 0%. The change applies to the most popular sites (Pinduoduo; Temu; Shein ...), including WizzAirIn the case of a refund, the commission is not refundable.

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In 1Q26, the share of the EU countries in the revenue from international travel was determined by 17% and amounted to $140.7 million - an increase of 36.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.According to the NBG’s statistics, revenues from Turkey and Ukraine increased by 12.2% and 34.2% annually and, respectively, amounted to $120.1 and $45.3 million. Amid the war in the Middle East, travel revenues from Israel have decreased by 13.4% year-on-year to $98.9 million.Revenues from Russia are characterized by a downward trend - in 1Q26, travel revenues from Russia to Georgia decreased by 12.3%.Georgia's travel revenues by country in 1Q26 are distributed as follows:

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To accelerate the growth of unsecured consumer lending, we renewed the end-to-end digital journey across all unsecured products, reducing time-to-cash from 5 minutes to less than 2 minutes and cutting drop-off rates from 7% to 4%.In addition, for FCLs, we introduced dynamic credit limits, which automatically update customers’ available limits based on their latest profiles, which resulted in generating on average GEL 13 million in incremental disbursements per month. We also implemented an NPV-based loan pricing model, ensuring more disciplined pricing decisions and optimised risk-adjusted returns. As a result, the share of FCLs, our major product in this category, issued digitally increased by 2pp and reached 70% by the end of the year.TBC also fully digitalised its credit card offering in 4Q 2025, which had previously been available exclusively through physical channels. Consequently, the digitalisation rate of credit cards reached 42% by the end of the year. At the same time, the digitalisation rate for buy now, pay later (BNPL) and Installments products stood at 95%. The demand for BNPL/Installments increased by 96% year-on-year, accounting for almost 50% of all digital loan applications on the market, becoming a powerful customer acquisition tool.Overall, our unsecured-lending customer base grew by 9% in 2025, amounting to 465,000 customers with 83% of all loans issued digitally.As part of its multi-licence strategy, TBC Uzbekistan also advanced its microfinance capabilities. TBC Credit received its microfinance licence earlier in 2025, completed the development of its lending platform, and began issuing loans in August 2025. TBC Uzbekistan also completed the setup of TBC BNPL, a dedicated company that will accelerate the expansion of the buy-now-pay-later business from 2026 onwards.

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The share of pawnshops in the total number of loans issued by the sector is 92%.Accordingly, only 8% is distributed between consumer and micro lending.At the moment, 29 MFOs remain on the market, with a loan portfolio of more than 2 billion GEL, of which more than 45% comes from the country's main pawnshop "Rico".The part of MFOs that finance real business, in the TOP - 6, does not consider it appropriate to group them with pawnshops, but this is an established practice and the media also follows it.However, to clarify that MFO Swiss Capital (SCAPP) and MFO Lazika Capital have a different ambition and, accordingly, a different business model from "pawnshop MFOs". They follow the chosen path systematically, despite internal and external challenges.Internal, mainly concerns regulations, and adaptation slows down the development process. However, according to market participants, this does not mean that it is better to operate without regulation for acceleration.External, in accordance with geopolitical risks, is related to a change in the mood of covenants, whether inspired from within the country or outside it. When an investor, fund, international financial organization, various donors, face a dilemma whether to finance a credit organization or pause it for a certain period.Increased risk means pause, and pause means a delay in access to credit resources. Accordingly, the passivity of the subject in the lending market and less money in the agricultural, tourist, processing, service and other entrepreneurial or service-providing sectors.

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In 2025, TBC Bank advanced to the next stage of its data and AI transformation, transitioning from experimentation to large-scale impact through several key initiatives. GenAI-powered chatbots, launched in the third quarter of 2025, now handle over 100,000 interactions per month with a 50% offloading rate. Internally, more than 70 workflows, from document processing to reporting, are already automated or AI-assisted.In addition, TBC Bank Group deployed eight RAG-based (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) knowledge bases, which offer instant access to verified institutional knowledge across key functions, including risk, legal, operations, and HR.“Together, these advancements demonstrate how data and AI capabilities are now deeply embedded in TBC Bank’s operating model, delivering tangible impact across customer experience, efficiency, and decision making”, - TBC PLC declares.In addition, TBC further strengthened its cybersecurity capabilities to support resilient digital growth and expansion. Development teams were empowered through secure coding trainings, promoting a culture of secure-by-design engineering. The group-level Security Operations Centre capabilities were enhanced with advanced threat intelligence, enabling faster detection and response to emerging threats.

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Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said the ruling party would withdraw its old lawsuit and instead submit an expanded list that includes the Federalists party. The previous targets of the ban were the United National Movement, the Coalition for Change, and Lelo.Papuashvili said the lawsuit was amended following a declaration signed by opposition groups on March 2, 2026. According to him, this union aims to “not recognize constitutional institutions and undermine democratic processes.”“We are appealing to the Constitutional Court with a new, amended lawsuit, in which the number of parties has increased,” Papuashvili said. He called the opposition alliance a continuation of the “criminal regime” and noted that the government is monitoring both the parties’ “anti-constitutional goals” and their influence on political processes.Political temperatures in Georgia have been particularly high since the opposition and part of the West did not recognize the results of the October 2024 parliamentary elections as legitimate. The Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012, accuses its opponents of pursuing the interests of the “global war party” and attempting to destabilize the country.Critics and international human rights organizations believe that the possible ban on opposition parties would push the country toward one-party rule and ultimately distance it from its goal of integration into the European Union.If the Constitutional Court upholds the lawsuit, the country's leading opposition forces would be stripped of their electoral status, an unprecedented step in Georgia's modern history.

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