Finance minister assesses 2012 budget

Finance Minister Dimitri Ghvindadze assessed 2011 as a financially successful year with economic growth up to 6.5%. There was interesting progress in tax administration, and the budget deficit is decreasing. As for the budget for 2012 the minister said that it is planned in a conservative way. Independent analyst Vladimir Papava however has certain critical questions about the adopted budget. Mainly this question concerns the expenses which are not clearly identified. 'Other expenses' are 16% of all the expenses which is more than 1 bln GEL and the destination of this money is not known and this creates further questions.