The Parliament approved the 2024 state budget. The main financial document for next year was adopted by 83 votes.
Lasha Khutsishvili presented the final version of the budget project at the plenary session on December 13.
By 2024, economic growth is planned in the amount of 5.2%; The deflator rate is 3% both in 2024 and in subsequent years. The average rate of inflation is 2.8%; The nominal gross domestic product is 86 billion GEL, which is an increase compared to the previous year. The deficit of the combined budget is 2.5%; The debt rate is 38.0% of GDP.
According to the final version of the draft state budget, tax revenues in the combined budget increase by 110 million GEL, while the increase in the state budget is 106.6 million GEL.
The total amount of revenues of the consolidated budget of Georgia for 2024 is determined in the amount of 28,357 million GEL, of which 22,053 million GEL are tax revenues. The expenditure part of the combined budget amounts to 28,706 million GEL.
As for the total income of the state budget for 2024, compared to the approved plan of the 2023 budget, it has increased by 2,398.5 million GEL and is determined in the amount of 24,569.5 million GEL.
State budget revenues have increased by 166.6 million GEL compared to its previous version.
The amount of state budget allocations is 25,030.4 million GEL, which is an increase of 2,719.1 million GEL compared to the 2023 plan, and 165 million GEL compared to the second version of the budget project.
10 million GEL of the mentioned additional amount is added to the reserve fund of the government and it becomes 90 million GEL. 6 million GEL is added to the payments of general-state significance financed by donors (Tbilisi buses project); The co-financing of operating costs and other obligations arising from international agreements increases by 450 thousand GEL.
29.2 million GEL is added to the Ministry of IDPs, Labor, Health and Social Protection from the occupied territories of Georgia, from which - 15.0 million GEL is added to the program for assisting internally displaced persons and migrants; 14.2 million GEL - to the public health protection program of the population (derived from targeted transfers); 3 million GEL is added to the management of IDPs from the occupied territories, labor, health and social protection programs.
The fund of projects to be implemented in the regions will increase by 130 million GEL - the volume of the fund will be 580 million GEL.
According to Lasha Khutsishvili, 30% of the total amount of the next year's budget - more than 8.6 billion GEL - will be directed to the financing of social and healthcare programs.
"In addition, 3.6 billion GEL, or 13% of the resource, was allocated to finance education and science programs; 10% of the resource - 2.9 billion GEL - to finance the direction of defense and security; the same amount of money is used to service and repay state debts; 1.2 billion GEL has been allocated for environmental and agricultural programs, and 940 million GEL for financing culture and sports. In total, more than 7 billion GEL is provided for the financing of infrastructural projects," said the Minister of Finance while presenting the final version of the budget project.
According to him, by the end of 2023, GDP per capita will exceed 8,000 dollars, and by 2027, in the conditions of 5 percent economic growth, it will reach almost 11,000 dollars.
As the Minister of Finance stated, by working together with the Parliament, the final version of the 2024 budget project reflected the indicators and programs that fully respond to the main tasks of the country.
