The FINANCIAL — The average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian Khachapuri in November 2014 was 3.34 GEL, which is 0.2% lower month-on-month (m/m, that is compared to the previous month), and 2.4% lower year-on-year (y/y, that is compared to the same month of last year). However, Khachapuri became even cheaper for foreign currency earners because of a sudden GEL depreciation (m/m and y/y) relative to USD and EUR during the last two weeks of November.
By the end of November, the GEL/USD exchange rate reached 1.83, which is 0.09 points higher m/m and 0.16 points higher y/y. Through this “double effect” (a seasonal decrease in Kh-Index and devaluation of the local currency), the Khachapuri price expressed in USD lost 4.7% m/m and 10.8% y/y.
The situation is roughly similar when looking at the Euro price of khachapuri. With the exchange rate reaching 2.29GEL/EUR, the price of khachapuri, expressed in Euro, is down by 3.0% m/m, and 3.4% y/y.
If we take a simple average of the USD and Euro exchange rates, the Khachapuri Index for foreign currency earners is down by -3.8% m/m and -6.7% y/y.
