“The task is simple: To do everything to gradually restore economic life to its usual pace as quickly as possible. We will not be able to return to the starting positions that we had at the beginning of 2020 in one or two months but we must recover within 1.5-2 years. We must unequivocally thank the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank for working together and in a coordinated manner with the donors, primarily the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The fund's expanded cooperation package, which amounts to $450 million - $200 million of which will appear in the country's budget in the form of budgetary aid in the coming days, by the end of April - is of extreme importance. As a result of working with the donors, the country's budget and its economy will receive $1.5 billion of state funding in aid. The donors have also expressed readiness to make the same amount of financial resources available to our commercial banking sector. To sum up, resources amounting to about $3 billion in international aid will be available to us by the end of the year. No country has achieved such results. We will be the first ones to agree on an updated extended program with the International Monetary Fund, which is very important. This is the essential first step that needed to be taken during the crisis," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the prime minister, at the same time it is essential to discuss the provision of targeted assistance to citizens, businesses, and the economy in the post-crisis period. The head of government believes that the effectiveness of the fight against the epidemic is directly related to lifting the restrictions and moving on to the stage of economic recovery.
Giorgi Gakharia thanked the European Union, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the German Development Bank, and the French Development Agency once again for their support of Georgia.
The Anti-Crisis Economic Group will meet regularly via videoconferencing. The public will be continuously updated with information on the decisions made during the sessions.
