The FINANCIAL — The average cost of a proper New Year celebration for most Georgian families interviewed by The FINANCIAL is GEL 500-600. Despite that, however, most say that they have significantly reduced the amount they are spending this New Year.
The FINANCIAL — The average cost of a proper New Year celebration for most Georgian families interviewed by The FINANCIAL is GEL 500-600. Despite that, however, most say that they have significantly reduced the amount they are spending this New Year.
There are about seventeen kinds of products in the typical Georgian New Year basket. Traditionally the price of a New Year basket increases in the run-up to the holidays.
“Prices have changed slightly in 2012 compared to the previous year, according to our calculations,” said Lasha Labadze, ISET Policy Institute Researcher. “Prices are now much higher than in 2009 and 2010. This year prices have increased by 6 percent compared to 2010 and 18 percent compared to 2009. Some of the products with significantly increased prices are: flour, beef, pork, nuts, honey, chocolate, lemonade and wine. Out of fruits, the cost of bananas has been consistently increasing for the last few years.
Most of the families in Tbilisi with whom we spoke said that they are spending between GEL 300-400 on gifts, decorations, food and drink this year. The average family in Tbilisi spends about GEL 150-200 on Christmas/New Year preparations. Satsivi, Gozinaki (nuts and honey), Churchkhela (traditional sausage-shaped candy), fruits and sweets remain the main dishes for Christmas and New Year celebratory dinners in Georgia.
“Fortunately New Year’s Eve is just one day of the year; otherwise people in Georgia would go bankrupt,” said Manana Kipiani, 35, Dentist. “We usually buy things that we don’t need and spend the next six months paying for it. I have two kids and most of my income will be spent on their gifts. My husband will buy different products. We have decreased the amount we are spending on this New Year due to economic instability. Our New Year expenditure will come to about GEL 300 or less,” said Manana Kipiani.
“I normally have GEL 500 saved for Christmas. But this year I’ll probably spend about half of that, so around GEL 250-300,” said Elene Giorgobiani, 40, teacher. “Products these days are too expensive; I will not be buying as many things as I have done in the past. I will be choosing less expensive gifts for my family. Most of the money will be spent on such products as nuts, honey, meat and fruit,” said Giorgobiani.
“I am shocked by the amount of money we spend at the shops for New Year,” said Ana Dolidze, 27. “On average our family of four spends GEL 500-600 on grocery products alone. This year the prices of certain products have increased. I think we will be cutting the budget of our New Year and Christmas celebrations this year. Most of our money for New Year is spent on products for the Georgian “Supra”; preparing Satsivi and Gozinaki dishes is quite expensive,” Dolidze said.
“I do not have a very big family, but our New Year budget is always quite large. Meat is the most expensive product that we buy for New Year. Pork costs us around GEL 40-50 and it’s not even the only sort of meat that we have on the table at New Year. I love cooking so I try to prepare lots of different dishes and to also bake some sweet things. All of this cost us around GEL 250. The cost of nuts is GEL 21 per kilogram. Gozinaki is the must-have dish for every Georgian but not everyone can afford to prepare it as it requires products which are pretty expensive,” said Tamar Gugunava, 29.
Together with food products, Christmas decorations are also very popular among Georgians. Christmas trees and decorations are some of the most important features of preparing for the New Year.
“I have already bought a Christmas tree; it’s very beautiful. I spent GEL 40 on my tree. I generally buy Christmas decorations every year at Goodwill and Super and spend about GEL 150-200 on those,” admitted Elene Giorgoniani.
“Buying a Christmas tree is not necessary every year, but I have bought a new one for this New Year for GEL 80. I buy Christmas tree decorations every year and I spend about GEL 30-40 on them,” said Manana Kipiani.
“I like buying New Year decorations as it makes the house look more festive. I spend about GEL 40-50 on that usually. But I think I will also be cutting our budget for Christmas decorations this year,” said Tamar Gugunava.
In contrast to those interviewed here, leading Georgian supermarkets say that consumers haven’t reduced their spending for this New Year. Newly opened hypermarket Carrefour is one of the most popular shopping destinations for Georgians. Carrefour is currently offering people discounts on several products.
“We are offering people discounts on 200 different food and household products. The amounts of the discounts vary from 10-15%. In cooperation with our partner companies we have arranged special offers as well, such as buying one product and receiving an extra one free. We also have discount vouchers per certain amount of money spent by customers. We expect about a 15% increase of New Year sales,” said Natalia Darchiashvili, Goodwill.
“Smart supermarket customers tend to increase spending on certain products during the run-up to Christmas and New Year. We have special discounts on a variety of products. In comparison with the last New Year period the number of our supermarket’s customers and their spending has increased. Last New Year we had just two Smart supermarkets whereas we now have about ten all around Georgia. We expect our clients to be more active in purchasing goods this New Year,” said Rusudan Kbilashvili, Wissol.
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