The economy of Georgia is an emerging free market economy. Its gross domestic product fell sharply following the dissolution of the Soviet Union but recovered in the mid-2000s, growing in double digits thanks to the economic and democratic reforms brought by the peaceful Rose Revolution. Georgia continued its economic

progress since, “moving from a near-failed state in 2W3 to a relatively well-functioning market economy in 2014”. In 2007, the World Bank named Georgia the World’s number one economic reformer,121 and has consistently ranked the country at the top of its ease of doing business index.

Georgia’s economy is supported by a relatively free and transparent atmosphere in the country. According to Transparency International’s 2018 report, Georgia is the least corrupt nation in the Black Sea region, outperforming all of its immediate

neighbors, as well as nearby European Union states. With a mixed news media environment, Georgia is also the only country in its immediate neighborhood where the press is not deemed unfree.

Since 2014, Georgia is part of the European Union’s Free Trade Area with the EU continuing to be the country’s largest trading partner, accounting for over a quarter of Georgia’s total trade turnover. Following the EU trade pact, 2015 was marked by further increase in bilateral trade, whereas trade with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) decreased