Budget criticised

The opposition is critical of the 2011 draft budget that was recently submitted to parliament for its lack of transparency as well as some unacceptable items such as the GEL900 million allocated under the heading ‘other expenses’.

In general all the allotted amounts should be specifically stated with a clear indication of where the money will be spent and for what purpose, i.e. for salaries, products or services or social reasons. Details of different expenses should be set out; clearly GEL 900 million is completely vague and beyond the control of either parliament or any appropriate body. Incidentally this particular figure has increased each of the past few years. In 2009 GEL 650 million was allocated to other expenses and for 2010 the figure was 723 million.

Leader of Christian democrat parliamentary faction Giorgi Targamadze commented that the 2011 draft budget is not a complete and finished product. On the one hand it is full of white spots, for instance healthcare and social assistance are not clear, while on the other there are many black holes, with tens of millions of GEL being allotted without any detailed indication of where and how they will be spent. For example the figure set for the reserve funds of the government and the president is GEL 50 million for each.