BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 9
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has presented the anti-crisis budget for 2020 at the Inter-Agency Coordination Council meeting, Trend reports via government administration.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a negative effect on major macro and fiscal parameters, reads the budget proposal.
"The economy, which was on good track at the beginning of 2020 and exceeded over five per cent growth in January, has worsened significantly following the economic restrictions due to the pandemic and dropped by more than 16 percent in April," said Gakharia.
According to the annual forecast, the economy is expected to shrink by 4 percent, exports may decrease by more than 6 percent, and the current account deficit will shrink to 10.3 percent of GDP. Tourism and remittances will reduce significantly, and consolidated budget tax revenues will decline by more than 1.5 billion lari ($509.1 million).
As reported, 3.4 billion lari ($1.1 billion) will be mobilized for the anti-crisis plan. The budget deficit will increase from 2.5 percent to 8.5 percent.
In 2020, consolidated budget revenues (excluding debt and donor grants) were planned at 13.70 billion lari ($4.6 billion). Because of the pandemic, the loss of revenue amounts to 1.81 billion lari ($614.3 million), reads the budget.
Additional resources mobilized in the budget to prevent the pandemic and its consequences amount to 5.63 billion lari ($1.9 billion), which includes credits allocated by the international partners (4.47 billion lari that is $1.5 billion): EU grant - 330 million lari ($112 million), StopCoV foundation - 133.5 million lari ($45.3 million), interest receivable as a result of placing additional mobilized resources on deposits - 53.5 million lari ($18.1 million), increase in domestic debt - 650 million lari ($220.6 million).
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