As Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze pointed out at today's meeting with the Business Association, poverty is Georgia's major economic challenge is poverty, and we cannot defeat it unless the SME's share in GDP increases.
According to the Head of Government, principled decisions will be made in the nearest future to encourage SMEs.
"I reiterate with all assuredness that we will take very principled steps in this direction. Some have already been announced, and very principled decisions will be made in the foreseeable future further to encourage SMEs," Mamuka Bakhtadze said.
The Prime Minister spoke about the guideposts employed by the Government's economic team in assessing reforms and pointed out the Government's desire for Georgia to have investment grading in the coming years.
"Our Government's economic team has concrete guideposts for assessing each reform. We want Georgia to have investment grading in the coming years. Taken Moody's as our reference point, we are two notches shy of investment grading. Therefore, each reform is assessed by this very criterion, that is, how it can help us achieve investment grading. I can explain why we chose this approach. When discussing economic development, many ideas emerge-and this issue is something discussed in every country-but we wanted to have a concrete reference point to enable us to have meaningful dialogue with businesses, international financial institutions, and the expert community alike, as to why we give the green light to one reform or another, or we refuse to implement one particular decision or another. This is why this criterion was selected. I want you to know about it. Thus, we will use this very criterion to assess each of our reforms, including business initiatives that we hear from society," Mamuka Bakhtadze underlined.
According to the Prime Minister, Georgia's economy must rely on the private sector in its development, and the Government is committed to ensuring that the success in terms of putting in place an economic environment are further improved.
