BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 25
By Maryana Akhmedova – Trend:
Georgia’s Economy and Economic Policy Committee of the Parliament will discuss the draft amendments to the current state budget today, Trend reports via Georgian media.
According to the draft amendments to the current budget, the allocations of the Ministry of Health will increase to 6.4 billion Georgian lari ($2 billion), which is an increase of 376 million Georgian lari ($120 million) compared to the approved budget.
The increase is entirely funded by the COVID-19 pandemic related costs, including mobilization of beds, treatment of infected people, testing costs, and reimbursement of pandemic management staff supplements, as well as funding of an incentive program to increase vaccination coverage (excluding those aged 60 and over).
The allocations of the Ministry of Defense will increase by 60 million Georgian lari ($19.2 million) and will be set at 990 million Georgian lari ($318.3 million). The increase is intended to finance the deficit in the Ministry of Defense.
With the same changes, the allocations for common courts will be reduced by 12 million Georgian lari ($3.8 million). As the Ministry of Finance explains, the funds allocated for the construction of the new building will not be used until the end of this year, and therefore, it is possible to reduce this amount.
As a result of changes in exchange rates and interest rates, the allocations for servicing and repaying government debts are reduced by 85 million Georgian lari ($27.3 million), in particular, domestic debt service is reduced by 20 million ($6.4 million), external debt service – by 50 million Georgian lari ($16 million), and external debt repayment – by 15 million ($4.8 million).
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