Nika Gilauri was born in 1975 in Tbilisi. He studied international economic relations at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Mr Gilauri holds a BA in Economics and Finance from the University of Limerick (Ireland) and an MA in International Business Management from Temple University (USA). Before joining the Georgian government in 2004, he worked as a private consultant in the energy sector. He is fluent in English and Russian.

 

Mr. Gilauri has been a managing partner of Reformatics since 2012 and a senior advisor to McKinsey; Company since 2014. Earlier, he spent 8 years in the Georgian government, where he served as Minister of Energy (2004-2007), Minister of Finance (2007-2009) and Prime Minister (2009-2012).

 

Mr. Gilauri’s term as Prime Minister was notably marked by rapid economic recovery and growth in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 global economic crisis: Georgia’s GDP rose from -9.0% when Mr Gilauri was appointed (Q2 2009) to +8.1% when his term came to an end (Q2 2012). Georgia’s budgetary deficit also decreased during his term as prime minister, dropping from 9% in 2009 to 3% in 2012.

 

During his time in government, Mr. Gilauri also guided reforms in the energy sector, fiscal policy, healthcare, customs, education, and other spheres of economic development, and contributed to efforts to improve Georgia’s overall business environment. His greatest achievement as Minister of Energy was to transform Georgia from being a country of semi-permanent blackouts into a net exporter of electricity to all its neighbors.

 

In his more recent capacity as managing partner of Reformatics, Mr. Gilauri has been involved in over 30 advisory assignments on three continents for various high-ranking government officials and politicians including presidents and prime ministers.