BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 21
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Quarantine measures and contact tracing allowed Georgia to effectively contain the first wave, with cases well those in neighboring countries, Trend reports via the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) report.
"Given pressures in the healthcare system, the government announced containment measures to be implemented at varying degrees through January 2021 – including a shutdown of non-essential businesses, a countrywide curfew, restrictions on public transportation, and restaurant closures for dine-in services," the report said.
Growth in the first quarter of 2020, at 2.2 percent, represented a significant deceleration in economic activity but remained positive.
As reported, the full impact of the lockdown and the COVID-19 shock materialized in the second quarter when output declined by 12 percent year-on-year. Although economic activity sharply decelerated, Georgia performed on par with peers.
This comprised of additional health-related spending (1 percent of GDP), transfers targeting vulnerable households (1.6 percent of GDP), and support to SMEs and businesses in hard-hit sectors (1.7 percent of GDP).
"Direct transfers were provided to workers who lost income, vulnerable families, severely disabled people, and to families with low electricity consumption. Businesses were supported by income tax relief for retaining workers, a property tax waiver for the tourism sector, a redesigned credit guarantee scheme for SMEs and micro-enterprises, interest rate subsidies to small hotels for loan repayments, an interest-rate subsidy, and partial loan guarantee for new lari-denominated mortgages below 200,000 lari ($61,077), support to the agriculture sector, and microgrants," the report said.
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