The Georgian government has picked out the most difficult period to prepare a 10-year development strategy for the country, as growth expectations change with high frequency due to the pandemic.
A few days ago the government was expecting 4.3% growth in 2021. However, the expectation on economic growth increased to 6.5%, after the economic growth of 44.8% has been observed in April. It indicates a rapid change of the situation.
Since April, government administration and the ministries have been working on a 10-year development strategy. The development of a new strategy is one of the initiatives presented by Irakli Gharibashvili during his approval as the Prime Minister. According to the decree of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, the government had to present a 10-year development plan before May 31.
The Government Administration has told BM.GE that works on the document is already completed and it will be submitted to parliament this month.
"The work on the document has already been completed by the ministries. International experts and members of the Georgian parliament are involved in the process. The prime minister will present the document to the parliament in June," the statement from the government administration reads.
The 10-year development plan is the second strategic document of the PM. The first document "Georgia 2020" was approved in the summer of 2014. The government spent a great deal of time and resources on the previous strategy. However, its economic chapter proved irrelevant within a few months of its adoption as national currency began depreciation in late 2014 and GEL lost more than half its value, as a result, it slowed down Georgia’s development in 2015-2016. Georgia's strategic goal for 2020 to have less debt than 40% of GDP, proved unreachable. Numerous other points of this strategic document turned out unreachable as well.
