Revised 2008 Draft Budget Unveiled

The long-awaited revised 2008 draft state budget sets state revenue at GEL 5.155 billion and expenditure at GEL 5.705 billion, Finance Minister Nika Gilauri said on December 19.

Speaking with journalists after a cabinet session, in which the final draft budget was discussed, Gilauri said that the economic growth rate was forecast at 6% and inflation at 8% for next year.

“Per capita GDP is expected to be USD 2,800 by the end of 2008,” he said. Georgia, according to the Statistics Department, has a population of 4.4 million.

“Fiscally there is a budget surplus of GEL 275,000,” he said. “Although in monetary terms there is a 2% deficit.”

Social assistance, Gilauri said, would be a government priority, with a proposed GEL 1.284 billion for the Ministry of Labor, Healthcare and Social Welfare The comparative figure for 2007 was GEL 996 million.

In the original 2007 budget submitted to Parliament in October GEL 951.8 million was earmarked for the ministry. In-coming Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, however, withdrew the draft in late November, saying it needed to be revised to make it “more socially-oriented.”

“These additional funds are needed to implement the government’s new social initiatives,” Gilauri said.

Defense spending has also seen an increase on the initial draft proposals, going from GEL 922.1 million to GEL 1.1 billion. The final figure, however, is a decrease on last year’s one, which stood at GEL 1.495 billion.

The Energy Ministry is set to lose out significantly, seeing its funding slashed from GEL 226 million this year to GEL 61 million in 2008.

Education is to get GEL 490 million, against the GEL 418 it got in 2007. The initial draft had proposed GEL 506.1 million.

The new draft must, in accordance with the law, be submitted to Parliament for consideration before December 22.