The government of Georgia has created an anti-crisis economic group as part of the Interagency Council to better manage the coronavirus’ impact on the Georgian economy, announces the Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia.
We are now in a time of crisis management ... The task is simple – to do everything possible to return economic life to its usual rhythm as quickly as possible. We will not be able to restore the starting conditions that we had at the beginning of 2020 in one or two months, but we have to recover it in about two years", said Gakharia.
The prime minister's advisor for economics Beka Liluashvili said that the economic group of the Interagency Council has been working on an anti-crisis plan from the very beginning of the crisis, and that the plan is based on three principles:
PM Gakharia thanked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is offering $450 million to help Georgia contain the COVID-19 pandemic "of this, $200 million will appear in the country's budget in the coming days, by the end of April", Gakharia said.
Gakharia also thanked donor organisations, the European Union, Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, German Development Fund, French Development Agency, that are ready to support the Georgian economy with $3 billion by the end of 2020.
Half of this money, $1.5 billion is budgetary assistance and another $1.5 billion is for the private sector of Georgia.
Gakharia said that at the same time it is necessary to discuss targeted assistance for citizens, businesses and the economy in the post-crisis period.