PM Gharibashvili talks about subsidizing grape harvest, tourism at the Gov't meeting
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
At the government meeting, the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili spoke about the government's plans to support Winegrowers by subsidizing grape harvest. According to him, they will subsidize the grape harvest this year as well and the price of 1 kg of white grapes will be at least 0,90 GEL. The Prime Minister added that they will collaborate with wine companies.
According to Prime Minister Gharibashvili, "not a single kilogram of grapes will remain unclaimed and the state will provide maximum support to winegrowers."
"We have made a decision that this year, of course, we will provide subsidies. The price of one kilogram of white grapes will be at least 90 Tetri. Not a single kilogram of grapes will remain unclaimed, and the state will provide maximum support to our winegrowers. About 300 wine companies will be involved in the process, and we will work with them. We had good meetings, we have full coordination, a Wine harvest coordination headquarters has been created, which has already started working, and this year we expect a record harvest, about 300 thousand tons of harvest, and this is a record figure, and taking into account all the challenges, all these factors, the subsidy will continue. "
In total, the subsidy will cost the government 150 million GEL. Since this is a strategic field and our country is the cradle of winemaking and it is proven that winemaking started from us, that is why the right intervention and right help for winegrowers is necessary from the side of the state," Gharibashvili said.
At the meeting, Irakli Gharibashvili also spoke about tourism in Georgia. According to him, the incomes received from tourism in the month of July, for the first time after the pandemic, exceeded the data for 2019. According to him, in July, a record export volume of 540 million dollars was recorded.
The Prime Minister noted that, in total, the incomes received from travel in January-July amounted to 1 billion and 618 million USD.
According to the head of the government, similar trends observed in the direction of export and tourism allow us to say that the trend of high growth in the direction of economic activity will be maintained in July:
"You can see that a lot of tourists have come to the country, and I want to tell you that in July, the income from travel, i.e. tourism, exceeded the data of 2019 for the first time after the pandemic. In other words, it did not recover and equalize but surpassed the data of 2019 and we have a record income rate. In particular: the revenues received from tourism amounted to 476 million USD which, as we told you, is 20% more than the same period of 2019, and if we compare it with the figure of 2021, it is about 130% more. In total, the revenues received from travel in January-July amounted to 1 billion 618 million USD. So, the similar trends observed in the direction of export and tourism allow us to say that the trend of high growth in the direction of economic activity will be maintained in July as well, which is very good for us. Of course, this means more employment, more of our citizens will be employed, income growth and poverty reduction," Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said.
