PM instructs ministers in their respective fields to hold meetings with private business representatives

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia talked about the new budget at the government meeting. According to Gakharia, “as a result of the joint work, the budget has been fairly balanced, reflecting the social responsibility of the state, but also reflecting fiscal discipline and capital spending by the state.”

According to the Prime Minister, the budget for 2020 has already been submitted to Parliament.

“In the future, coordinate work from government, as well as the parliament and National Bank will be very important so that our economic growth and efficiency in 2020 will be reflected in the daily lives of our citizens. As you know, we have a budget deficit of 2.7 percent, which is in line with the current program of Monetary Fund, which is another example that the budget is balanced. Such coordinated work should continue, as we face many challenges in the economy, such as the exchange course, which we all understand has a direct impact on the daily lives of our citizens,” noted PM.

According to the Prime Minister, the government and the National Bank are working together. As PM noted, it will continue in line with their mandates and will be more effective daily. According to the Head of Government, the recent decisions of the National Bank are fully supported by the Government of Georgia.

Before the meeting, PM Gakharia said the decision by the National Bank to lower the reserve requirement to 25% in foreign currency was backed by the government.

Besides, the Prime Minister instructed ministers in their respective fields to hold meetings with private business representatives to promote the full utilization of the financial resources. The PM announced that the government will start sectoral business meetings next week.

As the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natia Turnava, noted: “Different authorities, including the Ministry of Economy, received specific and very important assignments – to strengthen our work with the business and practically, in the coming days, we will start our meetings with the representatives of different fields.”

According to Turnava, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development already has intense communication with the business sector, but the agency will further work on this.

According to the Minister, in communication with the private sector, the main focus will be on several areas, including simplification of regulations.

As Turnava noted, the meetings will ensure to better understand “how to make our business environment more attractive, what barriers of business and what regulation can be simplified, and how to eliminate all problems so that our expectations of 5% economic growth are met and our planned budgetary commitments are fulfilled."

The meeting was held yesterday, on October 3, and was attended by the leaders of the Georgian government, ministers and other authorities.