Summary 

One of several transit corridors connecting Europe-Asia passes through Georgia, the shortest, the Middle Caucasus Corridor, although it is not distinguished by the volume of transported goods.

Due to the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine and against the background of the sanctions announced by the West, it is possible for Russia to divert cargo (about 400 million tons) passing through the North Caucasus transit route to the middle corridor, for which Georgian carriers and logistics companies must be prepared, otherwise the cargo flows will be switched to alternative routes.

The negative consequences caused by the sanctions affected E. year South direction as well. Challenges caused by Taliban Afghanistan were added to the southern route blocked by the Iranian factor. which created an insurmountable obstacle for the large-scale use of this transit corridor.

The macroeconomic environment has the greatest influence on the activity of the transport and logistics companies of Georgia. This mainly refers to the following directions:

¾      market infrastructure;

¾      finance management and banking services;

¾      tax environment;

¾      Ensuring economic justice.

Organized markets or exchanges are united in the market infrastructure. The following types are distinguished from them: goods, securities, currency and labor.

Commodity exchanges can be both universal and specialized. All types of goods are traded on the universal exchange, and limited types of goods are traded on the specialized exchanges. According to the data of the House of Justice of Georgia, 61 commodity exchanges are registered, but the vast majority of them are not functioning.

The stock exchange operates under the patronage of the state. Shares are mainly traded on this exchange, which allows joint-stock companies to replenish their financial assets and, on the other hand, determine the market value of their shares, thus the company's price. But they hardly work.

Labor exchanges in Georgia functioned weakly but still until 2004. Then they were replaced by the Employment Service, and since 2020, the State Employment Promotion Agency of the IDPs has been operating within the Ministry of IDPs, Labor, Health and Social Protection. These services cannot fully perform the functions intended for the labor market.

The next macroeconomic issue is the finance and credit system. It is expressed in ensuring the stability of the lari as a national currency in relation to the world's convertible currencies and in minimizing the level of inflation. But, as actual statistics show, Lari is unstable, which has a negative impact on the activity of shipping companies.

One of the main shortcomings of the tax system of Georgia is that tax rates do not depend on the amount of income, that is, the system is disproportionate. For example, the income tax rate is 20% for all taxpayers. So are the 18% VAT, 15% profit and other tax rates.

The existing system of economic justice does not renew entrepreneurial activity. There is no state arbitration court in Georgia, and private arbitration courts, although they are registered, have not gained popularity and are almost non-functional. Commercial disputes, between entrepreneurs and between entrepreneurs and tax authorities, are heard in the Civil Affairs Panels of the General Courts, where it takes a long time, often several years, to consider the dispute and issue a verdict. During this time, the subject of the dispute on the entrepreneur and his firm's financial situation can even have a fatal effect and lead to bankruptcy, thus the mechanism of ensuring such justice is ineffective.

The solution of the mentioned problems will be the basis for increasing the activity of Georgian shipping companies.