PM Garibashvili: ‘there was complete pessimism, nihilism when my term started’

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has summed up his 5-month term as PM while presenting the candidate of mayor for Tsalka, in Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia today and highlighted his achievements in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, stabilising the Georgian national currency lari and stimulating the Georgian economy.

Five months ago when I was appointed as the Prime Minister of Georgia there were no vaccines available in the country, 1 USD cost 3.5 GEL, the economy was closed and stopped, there was national curfew, coronavirus restrictions, and there was complete pessimism and nihilism in the country. In addition there was sabotage and an artificial political crisis created in the country”, said Garibashvili. 

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Garibashvili said that last year Georgia, like the rest of the world, met unprepared to pandemic, 'not knowing what we were dealing with'. He added that now 'we have a better prepared healthcare system thanks to our hero doctors'. 

What is the situation today? Lari is stable and in the shortest period of time we have managed to strengthen it by 40 points. We are one of the leading countries in terms of the economic growth rate in the world. This needs to be maintained", said Garibashvili. 

Garibashvili said that as a result of these achievements 'we have increased the budget by 1.2 billion GEL'. 

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We gave 600 million to the Ministry of Health which earlier was not included in the budget. We have allocated money for infrastructure, economy, manufacturing and for doubling the social assistance of our citizens, children, for example", Garibashvili said.  

Balance between pandemic and open economy

Garibashvili said that now the main goal is to maintain the peace and keep people employed. 

People need employment and monthly income”, said Garibashvili. 

Then he recalled the previous year, ‘when we locked people in their homes and then distributed 200-200 GEL to them’. Garibashvili said that this was not enough for an individual to be able to live normally. He added that ‘if we do not want to repeat the same the situation must be managed calmly’. 

If we do not help the healthcare system and do not get vaccination, it will be a very bad job for our country and for ourselves. I have been vaccinated, I have also been infected with Covid-19 and all my family members have been vaccinated. With this I want to set an example for everyone", he said.

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Gharibashvili said that the opposition TV channels made up the difficult situation in the country and that ‘nothing special is happening’.

Looking at these opposition channels, you will imagine yourself in the last days of the world, as if it were an apocalypse. It 's happening all over the world, friends, in Europe, everywhere”, Garibashvili said.

Access to Covid-19 vaccines 

Garibashvili said that Georgia was waiting for the Covid-19 vaccines from the Covax platform, but 'there was a delay'. He said that once he came into power his cabinet started direct communication with the manufacturers, however ‘no one came out to communicate and we waited for weeks for a response to the email’. 

I had an acquaintance during my first term as Prime Minister with the Director-General of WHO ... and with his help I contacted the president of Pfizer ... and we expedited the process as much as possible. We received more than a million doses of Pfizer in Georgia, which we bought, and half a million, which is a gift from President Biden to Georgia", Garibashvili said.

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Garibashvili said that importing Chinese vaccines of Sinopharm and Sinovac was his initiative. 

The WHO Director-General told me that these vaccines would be recognised in the coming months. I then instructed the government and ordered Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. The demand was very high and because of that there was a delay in the supply. I had a communication with the Prime Minister of China and as a result we achieved that half a million Chinese vaccines are in Georgia today”, said Garibashvili. 

He added that ‘we were able to mobilise the best vaccines in the shortest period of time’. 

We have opened up the economy and with all the parameters we are returning to the pre-pandemic state", Garibashvili said.

During the past two days there are more than 5,000 people infected with the Covid-19 in Georgia, while 5.28% of total population is fully vaccinated and the share of people only partly vaccinated is 6.70%, says Our World In Data, a project of the Global Change Data Lab.