2016 Budget: Healthcare, Education, IDPs in focus of social-oriented budget
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The Government of Georgia believes next year’s budget has a clear "social orientation” that focuses on the social needs of citizens.
At today’s Governmental meeting members of the Government discussed how to divide the 2016 state budget – and they decided to spend money on social sectors that would greatly benefit the Georgian population.
Increasing the amount of money allocated to Georgia’s healthcare and education systems was part of the social-oriented budget, which also focused on providing better assistance for refugees.
If in 2012 the expenses of Georgia’s Ministry of Health amounted to 1.8 billion GEL, next year it will exceed 3 billion GEL, which means it almost doubled. In order to implement the Universal Healthcare Program without any obstacles, it was decided 570 million GEL will be allocated from next year’s state budget [to healthcare],” said Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
Next year 85 million GEL will be allocated to the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia. This will be a 240 percent increase on the 25 million GEL allocated to the Ministry in 2012.
After healthcare education was deemed the second "most important” sector to receive the "largest financial resource” next year.
For [education] more than 1 billion GEL will be allocated from the 2016 state budget. Compared to 2012, next year’s state budget increases education financing by 55 percent. Teachers’ basic salaries will increase by 70 percent from 2012 to 2016,” said Garibashvili.
An earlier Governmental decision will see teachers receive an average salary of between 600 and 700 GEL in April 2016. Education Minister Tamar Sanikidze said until now the average teachers’ salary in Georgia was 400-500 GEL.
She added there were plans to also increase teachers’ salaries in 2017 so that people in this profession would receive a salary that "finally equalled” the average salary in Georgia.
Official data said in 2014 the average monthly nominal salary in Georgia was 818 GEL.
Meanwhile teachers’ basic salaries started to increase in April 2015. At that time the basic teaching salary was 405 GEL. Since then step-by-step teachers’ salaries has increased.
The PM said scientists’ salaries would also increase. In the past scientists received a "scanty salary” of 150-200 GEL however this had increased by 200-300 percent and now scientists in Georgia’s research and innovation councils now earned 700-800 GEL.
Hundreds of thousands of Georgia’s oldest residents will have their pensions increased by 12.5 percent next year following the Government’s pledge to allocate more than 600 million GEL for Georgia’s retired community.
Today Georgia’s Prime Minister, the Minister of Education and teachers from different schools gathered to celebrate World Teacher’s Day.
Georgia will have about 10 billion GEL in the state budget in 2016, announced Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri at today’s Government meeting.
The average salary of scientists in Georgia will increase by 250 percent. Instead of 150-200 GEL, scientists in Georgia will now earn 700-800 GEL, announced Georgia’s Minister of Education Tamar Sanikidze after the first meeting of the Research and Innovation Council.
Life will soon become easier for Georgia’s socially vulnerable pensioners after the Government announced their benefits would increase from the beginning of next year.
The pension is increasing for retired citizens living in Georgia’s high mountain areas.
How will the money be spent?
Tbilisi Mayor David Narmania revealed the money would be mainly spent on developing infrastructure, education, healthcare and social needs, as well as transforming Tbilisi into a more green, ecologically-friendly city.
Georgia is taking genuine steps to significantly develop the medical clinics throughout the country.
Today Deputy Mayor Irakli Lekvinadze announced the salaries of kindergarten teachers and staff will increase by five to 20 percent. The salary increase will come into effect later this year.
The cost of medicines in Georgia will soon be 30 percent cheaper. The Government is about to implement "one of the biggest projects” in the healthcare sector to develop the country’s hospitals and pharmaceutical industry.
Several major changes came into play on January 1, 2019. One of the changes is the accumulated pension system – the new programme is mandatory for legally employed people under 40, meaning they will be enrolled automatically. For those above the age of 40, the programme is voluntary, as it is for self-employed citizens.