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Economy Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s economy is growing and will grow faster after the presidential election, the country’s economy minister said before the opening of a business forum on Friday.

Saakashvili’s party, the National Movement, has frequently criticized the government for conducting a failed economic policy.

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and the government claim that the criticism does not correspond to reality.

On Friday, Minister of Economy Giorgi Kvirikashvili said that Georgia’s GDP is growing, not being reduced, as the opponents claim. The result after the second quarter shows that GDP has grown by 1.09 percent.

“We expect this index to increase to 2.5-3 percent by the end of the year. I don’t claim that this is a very good result, but it is still important,” he said.

The minister added that he is convinced that next year will be much better.

“We have to choose very clear distinct priorities, conduct an active campaign and concentrate all our energy on these priorities,” he added.

Giorgi Pertaia, the head of the Georgian National Investment Agency (GNIA), said that in the second quarter the amount of foreign direct investments has grown.

“The growth is quite small, but still pleasant. We can consider that after the political fluctuation, I mean presidential elections and the prime minister’s leaving, the amount of investments will grow in 2014. We can get a boom of investments, so we are optimistic about this issue,” Pertaia said.

The GNIA head said he thinks Georgia is a very attractive country for foreign investors.

“We had some specific problems that made trouble for investors, like the partiality of the judicial system, but now we have a chance to make Georgia more attractive to investors. This is possible if the politicians support us,” Pertaia said.

Also at the at the exhibition center Expo Georgia were representatives of international banks, donors, international and micro finance organizations.