12 Business Associations offer anti-crisis plan, request meeting with PM
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, April 23
12 business associations request a meeting with the Prime Minister. According to them, the goal of the United Platform initiative is to stand by the government so that the country can overcome its economic problems with less losses.
As Shota Burjanadze, a representative of a cross-sectoral initiative group, the Prime Minister expressed his desire to communicate with the private sector during a meeting with representatives of large businesses - associations operating in various sectors of Georgia are responding to this initiative. According to Burjanadze, they are addressing the PM with a 6-point initiative to pull the country out of the crisis, in which the first demand is to abolish the curfew.
According to the statement, the goal of this cross-sectoral joint platform initiative is to stand by the government so that the country can overcome its economic problems with fewer losses. The statements of the representatives of various government agencies and epidemiologists indicate the danger of re-lockdown in the country (the so-called third wave).
“The country's economy has been partially closed for more than a year. We have had a full lockdown for 6 months, which is a completely inadmissible ‘luxury’ for our rather poor country. The country has many international financial commitments that need to be fulfilled. The only guarantee for this is the activated business sector, which is the main filler of the country's budget.”
1. Immediate removal of the curfew: work processes in the country are interrupted 4-5 hours earlier, due to which the economy loses millions of GEL every day. Flights are scheduled, land borders are opened, tourists enter, but a country darkened and deserted at 8 o'clock is in fact the equivalent of anti-PR.
2. Start active preparations for the tourist season in the country: An example of such preparations is shown by many tourist countries, for example, Turkey. In order for the national currency to strengthen, we need to receive foreign tourists in the near future. Without preparation, the country will not be able to receive a significant number of visitors - the hospitality sector is destroyed.
3. The restaurant business will start operating on the weekends (subject to regulations): The restaurant business is one of the most mobilized businesses in terms of meeting the requirements of epidemiologists. Closing this business leads to completely uncontrolled, shady events and parties in the private sector. Plus, the tourist is hungry on the weekends.
4. Accelerate the vaccination process: In order to accelerate the vaccination process, it is necessary to strengthen the propaganda about the positive results of vaccination. Today, both the vaccination process and the propaganda are unsatisfactory.
5. Reduce tax burden on small and medium-sized businesses: Small and medium-sized businesses, which are most affected, should be taken care of by the state during this crisis. This applies to subsidies in some fields, as well as the removal or at least reduction of tax pressure.
6. Stop reproducing only negative information in the country: The progress of the country's economy is unthinkable without positive messages and positive attitudes. The media, like the government, are busy only with negative messages: the epidemic situation, the unfavorable state of the economy, the political situation, the Lari exchange rate, the killings, and so on.
“Mr. Prime Minister, you have announced that an anti-crisis plan will be presented soon - we are ready to participate in the preparation of this plan. We offer to plan a working meeting to discuss these topics,” said the statement issued by business associations.
