Business sector reacts to new restrictions in the country
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, November 30
Last week, the government of Georgia announced new restrictions in the country to slow down the spread of the virus. To address the challenges that the country is facing, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced new restrictions last week.
The restrictions are in place to limit the mobility of people across the country. However, multiple experts claim that this could severely hurt the economy. Initially, the government of Georgia has very actively said that there were no plans of total lockdown in the country.
As of today, the restrictions limit the movement of public transportation, working of big malls, and winter tourist season.
Representatives of several malls held a special press conference and addressed the government with a request to lift the restriction not from December 24, but from December 15.
From 28 November up until the end of January, malls in Georgia will be closed. However, because of the New Year's season, the malls in the country will be open from December 24 to January 3.
Representatives of the malls are asking the government to lift the restriction temporarily starting from December 15. They have also noted that it would be better if the restriction on mobility is lifted during this time as well. As the representatives are saying, customers should have the ability to use transportation to buy the products that they might need.
The Finance Minister of Georgia Ivane Machavariani noted that the self-employed should address the government agency as soon as possible to receive the 300 GEL assistance from the government of the country.
According to the Minister of Economy Natia Turnava, the increase in the number of infected people in terms of economic impact, and the epidemic will affect the economy much more than short-term and local restrictions.
As of Sunday evening, there are more than 130,000 cases of coronavirus reported in the country.
