BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 3
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
The coronavirus negatively affected almost all sectors of the Georgian economy, Trend reports citing the annual report of Georgian parliament for 2019-2020.
As reported, after average real growth rates of 3.7 percent in the first two months of 2020, the decline was 2.7 percent in March and 16.6 percent in April.
The report noted that Georgian exports fell by 22.1 percent in March year-on-year and by 27.9 percent in April, while imports fell by 12.7 percent in March and by 38.5 percent in April.
“In January-April 2020, total exports decreased by 11.9 percent, and imports decreased by 11.8 percent compared to the same period last year. After a significant increase in tourism revenue by 17.6 percent in January 2020, 5.2 percent in February and 69.8 percent in March, the revenue fell by 96.8 percent in April to $5.8 million," the report said.
As reported, a recession in the economy will directly affect the budget revenues, especially tax revenues, as well as expenses.
"In order to partially balance the deficit, the budget expenditure was significantly limited since March of this year," the report said. It is planned to reduce the expenditure side of the consolidated budget by about 600 million lari ($193.1 million).
The document said that the pandemic had a significant negative impact on both the private sector and the ordinary citizens; therefore, there was a need to look for additional resources to provide direct assistance to entrepreneurs and the citizens, as well as to prevent the spread of the virus and treat patients.
“Based on these goals, an agreement was reached with the International Monetary Fund to increase the budget deficit to 8.5 percent of GDP,” the report said.
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