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Georgia Conditions in the Soviet System
Georgian nationalists contended that Georgia's role in the
"division of labor" among Soviet republics was unfairly assigned
and that other republics, especially Russia, benefited from the
terms of trade set by Moscow. Georgian manganese, for example,
went to Soviet steel plants at an extremely low price, and
Georgian agricultural goods also sold at very low prices in other
republics. At the same time, Georgia paid high prices for
machinery and equipment purchased elsewhere in the Soviet Union
and in Eastern Europe. Despite Georgia's popularity as a tourist
destination, the republic reaped few benefits because most hardcurrency earnings from tourism went to Moscow and because Soviet
tourists paid little for their state-sponsored "vacation
packages." Georgia, however, benefited from energy prices that
were far below world market levels.
Despite the ambiguities of official statistics, all evidence
indicates that after 1989 Georgia experienced a disastrous drop
in industrial output, real income, consumption, capital
investment, and virtually every other economic indicator. For
example, official statistics showed a decline in national income
of 34 percent in 1992 from 1985 levels.
Data as of March 1994
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