2020-12-29
2020 is getting to its close; years turned out to be harsh globally and locally. The Inter-Agency Coordination Council held its meeting today; it may be one of the last this year. That is why, I wish to elaborate on the current epidemic situation, precision-targeted restrictions and their outcome. It was announced by Giorgi Gakharia, Prime Minister of Georgia at a press-briefing held today after a meeting of the Inter-Agency Coordination Council.
As noted by the Head of Government of Georgia, merely a month ago, one of the highest indicators of viral spread in Europe was observed in Georgia and specific precision-targeted restrictions resulted in considerable decline.
"We all need to understand it well that it is not only a matter of restrictions. Our citizens need to comply with them. Currently, 70% of our population wear facemasks according to the international measurement organizations. It is the merit of our citizens and we need to thank them. We reached the maximum community transfer rate in the late November-early December, when 5000 cases were confirmed on a daily basis. However, this indicator has gone down to 2012 and it is our joint achievement. When we have 2000 vacant hospital beds in the country, it means that the healthcare system is quite sustainable and is capable of responding to higher challenges, however there are several critically important elements that each of us need to comply with. There are basic rules of wearing facemasks. The higher facemask wearing indicator is the lower the community transmission rate gets. Let me explain it in a simpler manner: the more people wear facemasks, the more jobs will be maintained and the economy will recover sooner. The more tests get done, the quicker detection rate will be reached and medical treatment will thereby follow. Ultimately, the quicker the vaccine will reach the country, the sooner will the epidemic end" noted Giorgi Gakharia.
According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, we now have an opportunity to administer 20 000 tests a day, though the referral rate remains quite low.
The Head of Government of Georgia urged the population, not only those who need it, but everyone with even slight symptoms to get the tests done to safeguard their family members and loved ones, thereby helping the country in a swift economic recovery.
In the opinion of Giorgi Gakharia, Georgia on its own will fail to defeat the pandemic as it is a global challenge, though joint victory over the economic crisis is essential.
"There are several utterly important elements in this regard: adherence to basic rules, uniform wearing of face masks pretty much everywhere to maintain jobs and quickly recover our economy. It is particularly important in the regions as the scale and volume of testing needs to increase and we stand ready for this. We all need to understand it well that our special care should be focused on the elderly and high-risk groups of population. It is our shared goal. Ultimately, victory over the pandemic will not be a guarantee of any given country. Success lies on the path leading to the defeat of the pandemic and coping with the economic crisis. We need to win a victory over the pandemic with a minimum harm caused to the economy of our country and maintain potential of a quick recovery" noted Giorgi Gakharia.
According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, social allowances and social sustainability, maintenance of current jobs and creation of new ones will be the prime tasks of the Government of Georgia throughout 2021.
The Head of Government of Georgia focused on the precision-targeted social assistance, which has been carried out by the State for the last 1 year.
"Since imposing the last restrictions, we announced a one-off targeted social assistance to counterbalance the COVID restrictions. It was aimed at the people and companies that were affected by the suspension of operation. These were the shopping malls, fairs and markets, etc. At present over 130 000 applications are filed for a 300 GEL worth of one-off allowances, out of which majority - over 110 000 - have been honored already. Of course, by the end of the year everyone will get allowances. It indicates the impact of the epidemic on the economy of the country and significance of jobs for each citizen, when the Government does its best to keep them employed" noted Giorgi Gakharia.
The Head of Government of Georgia also spoke about the meeting of a Power Energy and Water Supply Regulation Commission of Georgia, as a result of which the Government of Georgia and the entire expertise community anticipate the tariff increase on power energy.
"It has its objective justification and explanation. You may well be aware that a methodology was adjusted in 2017, as a result of which tariff was not revisited. Of course, this adjustment in the methodology may be viewed in many different ways, though it is a fact as of today. Hence, we all need to understand that tariff is expected to increase on power energy and water, though in the latter case it will apply to Tbilisi, Rustavi and Mtskheta. When we provide targeted social assistance to households in Georgia, everyone should understand that we started to subsidize the utility bills for the residential subscribers back in spring. It applied to power energy, natural gas and water. It lasted for 4 months and continues today after being resumed in November. Subsidy has benefited 1.2 million subscribers in Georgia, which actually means 1.2 million households. All of these are done in the conditions of the economic crisis to maintain the social sustainability of our citizens in the manner plausible with the available state resources. When the tariff on power energy gets increased, it becomes a new challenge for us, which should be responded to by the authorities of the country, of course. It should happen this time round again even though we have no precise idea of its volume, as this issue falls in the scope of competence of the regulation commission" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, discussions were held on this topic within the team, authorities and with the engagement of MPs. The only possible and justified decision has been made at this point in time and the population of Georgia will not be able to feel the increased tariff on power energy in 2021.
Giorgi Gakharia explained that it means a full subsidy of a difference between the current and ultimate tariffs on power energy as set by Georgian National Energy and Water Supply
Regulatory Commission (GNERC) for subscribers in the volume of up to 300 kilowatts.
"There are 1.7 million subscribers in total in Georgia, out of which 1.6 million consume less than 300 kilowatts per hour. It means that the price increase for 95% of Georgian households on power energy will be fully subsidized. We are doing it primarily as our citizens and their families will have other quite serious economic challenges in the utterly crisis year of 2021 and tariff increase on power energy should not be perceived as an additional challenge" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
At the same time, tariff on water supply in Tbilisi, Mtskheta and Rustavi will apparently increase as it was not revisited for years either. State will fully subsidize it for the socially vulnerable groups of the population.
As noted by Giorgi Gakharia, tariffs will be increased on power energy not only for individuals, but for the corporate sector as well and there is a transmission risk to the ultimate consumer. By considering it and as the Prime Minister has noted, the Government of Georgia has decided to subsidize 50% of the difference between the current and ultimate tariffs to companies engaged in the primary local food production sector in 2021.
"It is the least that authorities can do to make sure that tariff increase on power energy does not get reflected in the ultimate price of goods produced locally. These are the key decisions that we took in recent days within the team as a result of major discussions. You may well be aware that these essential steps have been made to avoid extra social burden from the population of Georgia and local producers, which are engaged in the local food production ultimately preventing the increased routine costs to be incurred by consumers. Of course, pressure will exist on the daily payments of our citizens. Of course, specific numbers will be revealed on the allocations to be made from the State Budget when GNERC will ultimately define the tariffs. You may well be aware that in parallel with this, Parliament is launching discussions on the Draft State Budget for 2021 today and we are making specific steps together with MPs to make sure that these decisions of the Government of Georgia get reflected in the main fiscal document of the country" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia responded to the questions posed by journalists as well.
Press Service of the Government Administration