Gov’t debt amounts to 29.6 billion GEL, 55% of Georgia’s GDP for last one year

As of June 30, 2021, the Georgian government debt amounted to GEL 29.6 billion, which is about 55% of the country’s GDP for the last one year, Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) has stated.

TI Georgia reports that in the first six months of 2021, the government borrowed GEL 3.5 billion but repaid GEL 2.2 billion in the same period.

“In the first half of 2021, GEL 921 million was allocated for new programs related to COVID-19, but in fact GEL 822 million (89.3% of the planned amount) was spent,” TI Georgia said. 

It says that GEL 425 million was spent on healthcare, including GEL 96 million on the purchase of vaccines. Up to GEL 350 million was spent on social assistance; the largest amount – GEL 142 million was spent on compensation for the temporarily unemployed, and GEL 105 million was spent on subsidies for utility bills.

TI Georgia says that although the amendments to the 2021 state budget have reduced the budget deficit from 7.7% to 6.9% of GDP, the deficit remains very high and the government must make savings on unnecessary spending by the end of the year. 

 It says that the  Ministry of Finance should provide information on how many non-staff contractor workers are employed in each institution and how much is spent on their remuneration. 

“When government debt is significantly increased and there is a pandemic in the country, doubling the expenses on temporary workers raises questions about inefficient spending and nepotism, as hiring such employees is less regulated by law,” TI Georgia said.