Experts blame local gov’t for not approving Tbilisi budget

A group of experts are blaming the local government for not approving the Tbilisi City budget.

Transparency International (TI) Georgia, a non-governmental organization devoted to combatting corruption, has voiced blame on the local government for not accepting the capital city’s budget and neglecting the interests of the local population.

In an article released on the official webpage of the organisation entitled "Tbilisi budget: a political game or caring for people?” reads that both sides, and the City Council have unnecessarily dragged out the process of approving the Tbilisi budget.

"[They] are neglecting the interests of the local population - to try and score political points.While the City Budget is far from ideal, the substance of the City Council’s actual arguments are thin and unconvincing,” the report read.

While the City Hall has taken the majority of the City Council’s requests into account — and the budget has been modified several times over — each time the City Council then invented a new requirement, which created further delays.

TI believed the budget approval process "had been hijacked for a political game, rather than motivated by a legislature’s love for its people.”

"Continuing down this path just several months before the local elections, which is very likely to lead to the resignation of Tbilisi government, is not the right thing to do.”

On February 12, the City Council voted against the budget for a fourth time.

TI is a think tank that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development.