Government to subsidize wine sector and offer subsidies on loans for families with newborns
By Khatia Bzhalava
Tuesday, August 3
As Economy Minister Natia Turnava announced yesterday, the Georgian government will subsidize mortgage loans for families with newborns and large families starting September 1. According to her, families with newborns will have 12 months to apply for loans. The subsidy project will continue for five years.
According to Turnava, families that will have children from September 1 will be eligible to receive a loan subsidy from the state with a maximum loan amount of 200,000 GEL. The state will subsidize 6% of the loan interest rate if the newborn is a first or second child in the family and eight percent if the newborn is a third or fourth child. The state will also subsidize four percent of the loan for those families who do not have newborns but have three or more children. Turnava expressed hope that this program would contribute to the well-being of families and the improvement of their living conditions. “Each newborn child will bring not only great joy but also special benefits,” Turnava noted.
As Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated at the briefing on Monday, through this assistance program, families will be able to buy both an apartment or a private house. The PM also focused on subsidizing the 2021 grape harvest due to an excess grape yield this year, amounting to 300,000 tonnes. As PM noted the price of 1 kg Rkatsiteli wine variety will be no less than GEL0,90, adding that the wine companies will receive an additional GEL0,35 (per kg) from the state.
The Prime Minister stated that in the last eight years 6,400 vineyards have been planted and the number of wine companies increased from 39 to 350, with revenue growing from GEL35 million to GEL323 million.
Garibashvili also expressed concern over the drug price rise, underlining that some drugs have 300- 400% price tags, which, according to him, is unacceptable. “Nothing like this happens in any other country. We need to make relevant decisions shortly as the situation affects the well-being of our population,” he noted. According to him, the Georgian National Competition Agency will present an interim monitoring report on this issue in the coming days.
