Phase III of anti-crisis plan announced:
What support can Georgian citizens expect?

The government of Georgia has announced the third phase of its anti-crisis plan in order to ease the burden caused by the coronavirus crisis.

• Gov't announces 3.5 bln GEL anti-crisis plan

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated today that 'we are entering a deep economic crisis' and if this economic downturn continues 'we will have to announce another social package at the beginning of the next year'.

Meanwhile, the government of Georgia announced it will continue its social assistance offered within the anti-crisis plan to help citizens overcome the financial challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

We all see that the economic crisis will be long-lasting. We understand that the next two years will be quite difficult for the global economy and of course, for Georgia, as one of the most open economies in the region and part of the global economy. We must do everything to alleviate the impact of this crisis for our citizens", said Gakharia.

Covering utility fees

Gakharia announced that the Georgian government will continue the programmes to cover utility fees, including sanitary services, gas and water bills for three months (March, April, May) for households which consume less than 200 kWh of electricity and 200 cubic meters of natural gas per month. Now the programme will be prolonged during the winter period and the government will cover November, December, January and February utility fees as well. 

Families to receive one-time assistance of 200 GEL per child

Gakharia announced that families will receive one-time assistance of 200 GEL per child from the state. He said the assistance for children will help them prepare for the upcoming academic year.

Self-employed people who do not have documentation pertaining to their work status will still receive 300 GEL assistance.

Until the government ends the self-employed assistance programme it decided to still help those self-employed people who could not present documentation that proves employment. Gakharia said that there are 80 000 such citizens and they will also receive a one-time assistance of 300 GEL.

So far 250,000 self-employed people have registered in total to receive assistance, which has already been received by 170,000.

Students to receive full tuition for one semester of the 2020-2021 academic year

Gakharia said that all students who have a rating score of 150,000 from the Social Service Agency will receive full tuition from the state for one semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. In addition, students whose score is below 150,000 points and have their student status suspended due to the non-payment of tuition fees will also receive 2,250 GEL in financing for tuition in 2020-2021.

Gakharia said that more than 33,000 students in Georgia will benefit from this assistance.  

In total the budget of the phase III social assistance amounts to 410 million GEL (about $132.90m/€112.19m). Gakharia said that the part of the money is mobilised from the StopCov foundation (130 million GEL).