2023-11-27
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"In the conditions of conservative planning, nominal GDP is projected at 86 BLN GEL. Economy of the entire country was almost 27 BLN GEL in 2012, while it grew to triple in mere 11-12 years". It was announced by Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia at the Executive Government Meeting today.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, the national economy will be at least 108 BLN GEL in 2027, while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Per Capita will reach 11 000 USD, which is a tremendous progress in the recent past.
"I wish to make a statement on significant topics today and spread information for the information of our society. First and foremost, I wish to tell you that the final draft of the State Budget for 2024 will be discussed today. We have actively worked on it for the past three months and it may be said that all the topics and initiatives that we will be implementing in 2024 have been individually scrutinized with the Parliament and within the Government.
We have had a very intensive and productive work with the Parliament. Ultimately, we are presenting the final draft budget today. I believe that it turned out to be rather good. I wish to thank everyone engaged in the process: our team member - Minister of Finance - and his team, who worked well indeed on the new State Budget. I would briefly summarize it by repeating all the main parameters that are included in the budget.
I wish to say that the State Budget for 2024 has been planned in a conservative manner again. We assumed the economic growth indicator to be 5%. Also, Budget Deficit has been reduced sharply. It will be 2.5% and we are keen to maintain this declining trend in coming years. The Government Debt to GDP ratio will be 38%, which is also very low and it may be said that we managed to achieve a significant reduction in the past 3 years. Government Debt will be declining in coming years as well. Dear Friends, in the conditions of conservative planning, nominal GDP is projected at 86 BLN GEL. Let me remind our society that the economy of the entire country was almost 27 BLN GEL in 2012, while it grew to triple in mere 11-12 years! It may be said that 86 BLN GEL is the absolute figure, while in USD it will be 8500. That is, GDP Per Capita will be 8500 USD. We have witnessed the doubling in USD as well and this has been happening in the past 11 years. According to our projections, the economy will reach 108 BLN GEL in 2027 and that is only the minimum. Such projections have been made by us and the per capita indicator will reach 11 000 USD. It is again a very substantial progress of recent times. Considering all these parameters, Expenditure of the Consolidated Budget in 2024 will be 28.760 BLN GEL. That is, we have further increased it. I will elaborate on it in detail. You are well aware and I will not repeat that we have a very substantial increase in every direction. We have carried out truly significant and tangible initiatives. We will be pursuing them in 2024. It will include the increase of pensions, salaries and wages in the public sector. We increased the earmarking for the education sector by almost 600 MLN GEL, which will be used for the pay rise for teachers, as well as the construction of schools and kindergartens. Kindergartens will be built anew, while schools will be rehabilitated or built anew. Let me repeat again that we have significant, tangible novelties in all these directions and changes are on their way in 2024" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, a regional fund will collate 580 MLN GEL in total, which is very important as the municipalities will be able to seek funding for vital projects next year.
"Now, as for the adjustment presented in the present draft, in contrast with the previous one: Expenditures in the State Budget are proposed to be increased by 165 MLN GEL, as Lasha [Minister of Finance of Georgia] and his team have managed to mobilize the additional resources. Out of this, bulk - 130 MLN GEL - will be used for project financing in our regions. Overall, the regional fund will collate 580 MLN GEL, which is very important as the municipalities of the country will be able to seek funding for vital projects next year.
Apart from this, I wish to also note that we have allocated 15 MLN GEL in addition and this amount will be used to compensate households affected by a landslide in Guria, who lost their dwellings as a result of the natural disaster. We will credit the bank accounts of these individuals with 15 MLN GEL to build houses and residential blocks so that no family is left without care and support. I wanted to say this clearly once again. We have already earmarked 15 MLN GEL in addition towards this end in the proposed State Budget of 2024.
Once again, let me summarize the Total Expenditures of the State Budget, which will be 25 BLN GEL, while 28.760 BLN GEL of the Consolidated Budget. It is a very significant rise! The State Budget was around 9 BLN GEL in 2012 or rather 8.6 ranging to 8.7. Whatsoever, it was around 9 BLN GEL. We have tripled this indicator as well and total economic growth has been tripled.
Once again, my gratitude goes to you - Lasha [Minister of Finance of Georgia] and your team. I wish to thank every Minister, our Parliament and respective Committees that were very intensively working together with the Government. We have heard a lot of initiatives from them as well and exchanged ideas. It has been a very interesting process and I believe that we have a balanced and program-wise rather interesting budget in fiscal and economic terms, which will be felt by the majority of our population next year. It will, of course, facilitate a further advancement of the national economy.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, the employment indicator has reached a record-high indicator in the country.
"As for the current economic stance in general, you are well aware that we have reached a 7% economic growth this year. We are witnessing very good trends even now, as we speak. It is important to maintain this positive trend. I wish to follow-up on the information released by GeoStat [National Office of Statistics of Georgia] last week in relation to the economic performance and employment. Number of employees has been rising in every quarter this year. It kept rising in Q3, Q2 and Q1. Significant increase was observed and record-high indicators were reached in terms of employment levels in the country. We currently have 1.366 million employed individuals in the country. It is an official dataset published by GeoStat. Employment level is also record-high, as a result of the prudent policies pursued by our Government in recent years. It is an outcome of the steps that we took and the peace policy we pursued. Otherwise, if the country were under the previous rule and governance, we would not have had peace or economic growth. We would have had nothing! They would have destroyed and ruined the country for the second and final time, as they did once already. That is why, we maintain the peaceful policy, high economic growth and equally high development pace" stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, significant projects are planned and active, effective work is needed along with timely decisions.
"We have a lot of projects planned for 2024. Almost 6.7 BLN GEL will be spent in total on infrastructure throughout the country. Out of this, a significant portion is earmarked for the budget of the line ministry under the portfolio of Irakli Karseladze [Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia] and every line ministry has incorporated these expenditures. Thus, very important projects are planned. We need robust, active and effective work with timely decisions. I believe that everything will be very well indeed!" Concluded the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Press Service of the Government Administration