BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Georgia's public debt to reach 54 percent of GDP by 2025, Trend reports via Georgian media.
IMF resident representatives in Georgia Selim Chakir said that by 2023 this number should fall below 60 percent.
“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the global economy is facing a serious crisis. Of course, this affects the economies of many countries, including Georgia. In the case of Georgia, one of the good things that happened: the country was not hit as hard as the crisis itself. This gave the government fiscal space to respond to the crisis. This was mainly supported by international donor organizations. Thus, there was no crowding-out effect in the sense that the Georgian government did not need to borrow money from banks, and banks did not exhaust resources to borrow money for the private sector," Chakir said.
According to him, Georgia's debt in 2021 will amount to 62 percent of GDP, but will gradually decrease.
"Government spending will also be cut. The government is obliged to reduce the budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP and debt to 60 percent by 2023. We hope that additional extreme measures will no longer be necessary and that these goals are achievable,” Chakir said.
Georgian public debt currently stands at 58.65 percent of GDP. By attracting new debts, Georgia's state debt will exceed the statutory mark of 60 percent.
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