State Economy Reaches Double-Digit Economic Growth, PM Garibashvili Says
By Khatia Bzhalava
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili announced at the Executive Government Meeting yesterday that the country reached double-digit economic growth in 2021.
According to the PM, due to the economic recovery, the Government was enabled to substantially improve the key fiscal parameters.
As Garibashvili noted, 2021 started on a difficult note, and the economic shortfall reached 11,5 % in January, however, the situation changed radically from March-April and according to the preliminary data for the first 11 months of the year, economic growth in 2021 reached 10.7%. The overall annual growth rate, which is expected to be 10.7%, is 2.5 times higher compared to the original forecast.
The PM stressed that the State Budget for 2021 was planned at the end of 2020 during the difficult epidemiological and economic situation, thus, economic recovery expectations of 2021 were not promising.
As a result of the high economic growth, nominal indicators of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have increased to 59.6 BLN GEL, compared to the originally forecasted 53.4 BLN GEL.
The PM notes that fast economic recovery enabled the government to ‘substantially improve the key fiscal parameters’.
In particular, the government’s debt was reduced to 50% instead of the planned 60.1% of the GDP.
The PM also announced yesterday that the decision regarding pharmaceutical prices would be made this week. According to him, it is expected that this step will reduce the prices significantly. The government plans to open up to the Turkish market and receive high-quality medications, which will reduce the cost of medicines and develop a bill to further improve the situation in this regard.
Garibashvili also focused on the country’s social policy, noting that work is underway on a project focusing on the creation of social jobs.
“We must change the current social policy, create new jobs, and reduce poverty, and that should be our main concern this year,” Garibashvili noted, claiming that tens of thousands of jobs will be created within this project.
