Georgia’s municipality of Martvili and the cities of Tbilisi and Batumi have all successfully passed the so called “PEFA CHECK” launched by the World Bank and the European Union, which confirms that “all quality standards had been met” in these areas.
The “PEFA CHECK” is Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment which was done in a total of 15 municipalities and cities of Georgia in 2017 and 2018. Twelve of these assessments were done by GIZ and three by the World Bank.
The findings of the latest assessment of Martvili, Tbilisi and Batumi say that in these areas government expenditure at the sub-national level is high at six per cent of gross domestic product and it accounts for about a fifth of consolidated government expenditures. Local administrations in Georgia are primarily responsible for critical services that include provision of housing, utilities and communal services.
The assessment reviews seven pillars of performance of a PFM system that includes: budget reliability; transparency of public finances; management of assets and liabilities; policy-based fiscal strategy and budgeting; predictability and control in budget execution; accounting and reporting; and external scrutiny and auditing.