President Calls on Parliament to Adopt Budgetary Amendments

(Tbilisi, August 18, 2003, Civil Georgia) – President Shevardnadze expressed today concern regarding parliament’s failure to start discussion of the budgetary amendments, considering cutting expenditures by 86 million Lari (USD 40.3 million) and increase of revenues by 45 million Lari (USD 21.1 million).

“This is the International Monetary Fund’s one of the main recommendations and if we fail to meet it, we will be deprived of the fund’s support in talks with th!
e Paris Club. The executive government did its best and now it is up to parliament to implement the IMF’s recommendations,” Eduard Shevardnadze said in his Monday radiobroadcast.

Parliament failed on August 15 to start discussion of the amendments to the 2003 budget because not enough MPs were present to make up a quorum. The opposition parliamentary factions are against of amendments, demanding that the government’s accountability for the budgetary deficit be raised.

“Now it is not time to talk about the reasons of budgetary deficit. We should meet IMF’s recommendations,” President Shevardnadze said today.

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Budgetary Amendments to Heat up Debates in Parliament

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