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Georgia Obstacles to Development
Several noneconomic factors influenced the broad decline of
the Georgian economy that began before independence was declared
in 1991. National liberation leaders used strikes in 1989 and
1990 to gain political concessions from the communist leadership,
and a 1990 railroad strike, for instance, paralyzed most of the
Georgian economy. In 1991 the Gamsakhurdia government ordered
strikes at enterprises subordinated to ministries in Moscow as a
protest against Soviet interference in South Ossetia
(see Ethnic
Minorities
, this ch.).
Although combat in Georgia in the period after 1991 left most
of the republic unscathed, the economy suffered greatly from
military action. Railroad transport between Georgia and Russia
was disrupted severely in 1992 and 1993 because most lines from
Russia passed through regions of severe political unrest.
Georgia's natural gas pipeline to the north entered Russia
through South Ossetia and thus was subject to attack during the
ethnic war that began in that region in late 1990. In western
Georgia, Gamsakhurdia's forces and Abkhazian separatists often
stopped trains or blew up bridges in 1992. As a result, supplies
could only enter Georgia through the Black Sea ports of Poti and
Batumi or over a circuitous route from Russia through Azerbaijan.
In both the Soviet and the post-Soviet periods, conflicts
between Georgia and Moscow broke many vital links in the
republic's economy. Official 1988 data showed imports to Georgia
from other republics of more than 5.2 billion rubles and exports
of over 5.5 billion rubles. As a result of Gamsakhurdia's
policies, goods destined for Russia were withheld by Georgian
officials. The Soviet leadership, encouraged by conservative
provincial leaders in the Russian regions bordering Georgia,
responded with their own partial economic blockade of Georgia in
late 1990 and 1991. All-union enterprises in Georgia stopped
receiving most of their supplies from outside the republic. The
strangling of energy resources forced much of Georgian industry
to shut down in 1991.
Data as of March 1994
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