Tens of thousands of Georgian workers are unable to access Turkish tea plantations while the border remains closed. Cultivators are anxious over debt and further privatization.
The president may be deluded, but even he has come to realize that the crisis already upon his heavily energy exports-dependent economy is going to be very difficult to weather without help.
Even with coronavirus serving as a belated impetus to push through long-stalled reforms, the five members of the Eurasian Economic Union show limited willingness to help each other.
Instead of being transparent about the economic crisis, the president is, in the manner of an unaccountable manager incapable of long-term planning, trying to do the same with less.
Despite years of state pressure, civic groups are providing services for those in need and showing the effectiveness of social engagement, solidarity and selflessness.
While the government seems to concede the inevitability of the incipient downturn, it is still clinging to rosy economic performance figures. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.