PM candidate highlights economic development in 10-month programme to Parliament

Irakli Kobakhidze, the candidate for the position of the Prime Minister of Georgia, on Wednesday said economic development of the country would be given “special importance” while presenting the Government programme for the next 10 months to the Parliament.

He said the programme would make “maximum emphasis” on “further increasing” the pace of economic development, with “specific initiatives” to be implemented for the purpose.

Particular emphasis will be placed on further development of our strategic geographical location and transit function, which is of particular importance for the advancement of the economy. In this regard, special attention will be paid to infrastructure development in various directions. This concerns roads, aviation transport, railways [and] communications”, Kobakhidze said.

The official also reviewed economic development of the past 10 years and said the Government had managed to overcome challenges amid crises between 2015-2016 and 2020-2021.

Ultimately, we managed to overcome these crises. Especially during the last year, the economy has grown significantly. Our nominal economy in US dollars has almost doubled during these three years, and rapid economic growth has given us the opportunity to qualitatively improve economic and fiscal indicators”, he said.

The candidate for PM added the foreign debt of the country had been “radically reduced” in the same period. 

[T]he foreign debt was more than 60 percent by 2020, and the ratio of the country's foreign debt to the gross domestic product has been reduced to 39.5 percent. Also, the budget deficit decreased from 9.3 to 2.5 percent. The current account deficit has fallen below five percent, and the inflation rate for the last eight months is less than one percent”, Kobakhidze said.

The official said the ruling Georgian Dream party would present a new, four-year Government programme following the assembly of the Parliament after the general elections, scheduled to be held in October.

He added the new programme would outline “new initiatives” based on the party’s election programme.