The Draft Budget Code initiated by the Government envisages the improvement of accountability and transparency of the Budget and budgetary processes.
The Draft was introduced to the Committee by the First Deputy Finance Minister, Giorgi Kakauridze.
According to him, Georgia demonstrates good practice and international ratings in terms of the accountability and transparency of the Budget, however, there is space to further improve the situation. The change concerns the transitional provisions, namely, the transmission of private schools and kindergartens to the Treasury service and the improvement of their accountability and transparency on a daily basis.
The Draft also provides the segmentation of the state enterprises. “All LEPLs have been transferred to the uniform Treasury system since 2015 with schools and kindergartens solely remaining. All the remaining institutions should as well be transferred to the Treasury system as of January 1, 2022, though it requires respective training, which has been suspended due to the pandemic. Thus, this commitment is postponed to January 1, 2024. However, we intend to gradually transfer schools simultaneously with the trainings to ensure all schools and kindergartens engaged to this system as of 2024”, - the reporter noted.
The second direction in the Draft envisages the reflection of the transactions of the state enterprises of the Governmental sector on the public finance management system.
The committee discussed the Agreement between Georgia and Poland on Prevention of Double Taxation on Incomes and Elimination of Non-payment and Evasion of Taxes, introduced by the Deputy Finance Minister, Mamuka Baratashvili. The Agreement was signed in July 2021. Georgia has concluded similar agreements with 57 countries. The Agreement includes the provisions envisaging the exchange of information between the countries.
The Committee approved the documents and discussed the Bill on Food Bank by the citizen David Mebagishvili, concerning the creation of the food banks to mitigate the poverty shocks.
As the Chair of the Committee, David Songulashvili stated, according to the conclusion by the Foreign Relations Committee, the Draft will be developed on the hereof issue. Besides, this problem requires processing in terms of food safety.
Hence, the Committee considered it expedient to recommend further consultations to the author with the Agrarian Committee.
