US ambassador ‘surprised’ by Georgia’s refusal on EU loan, says US ‘will consider’ the message

US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that she is surprised by the recent decision of the Georgian government not to take the second portion of the EU’s 150 million euro loan amid poverty and severe epidemiological situation in the country, stating that Washington ‘will also consider the message’. 

Degnan said that receiving the loan was connected with ‘important reforms’ in Georgia. 

PM Irakli Garibashvili stated earlier this week that Georgia refused to receive the second tranche of the loan because of the ‘growing economy’ and the intention to decrease the country’s 20 billion foreign debt. 

The EU responded that Georgia may not have received the loan at all because the government has failed to carry out genuine reforms in the judiciary, which was one of the preconditions for receiving the loan.