Georgia to Increase Defense Spending
The government agreed on July 28 to amendments to the law on the state budget for 2004, which envisage increasing budgetary expenditures by 228 million Lari (approximately USD 119 million).
According to official reports, the increased expenditures will be allocated to the defense and social sectors.
Out of this 228 million the defense and law-enforcement agencies will receive 97 million Lari (USD 50,7 million).
Specifically, the Interior Ministry will receive 59 million Lari, Defense Ministry ? 25 million Lari, Security Ministry ? 6 million Lari, Justice Ministry and the Prosecutor?s Office – some 2 million Lari each.
22 million Lari (USD 11,5 million) will be allocated for the payment of pensions and salary backlog.
4 million Lari is to be allocated towards the payment of membership fees in international organizations, as well as for the funding of Georgian embassies abroad.
According to the Georgian Finance Ministry these figures are preliminary and may chage slightly before they are submitted to the Parliament for approval.
?We can increase budgetary expenditures due to extra funds received from tax revenues, non-tax revenues and revenues from privatization,? Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said at a news briefing on July 28.
?This is a precedent in the history of independent Georgia, when, instead of cutting expenditures the government offers Parliament to increase budgetary expenditures,? Zurab Zhvania adds.
