From 2021, our nominal economy has increased by 40 billion GEL, therefore, the country's budget has increased by approximately 10 billion, which allows us to take even more care of the country's development, - said the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, in his speech at the conference of the business association.
According to him, there are very good trends and pace in all directions, which allows the implementation of projects stimulating the economy.
"All this allows us to take even more care of the economy, in general, the development of the country, to implement such projects, including infrastructural ones, which will give a new impetus to the development of the economy. We have very good trends and pace in all directions and I hope it will continue. Opponents of the government sometimes say that although the economy is growing, this 40 billion went into the pockets of 25 families, that's their message. Professionals, specialists in this matter will probably agree with me how big a lie this is. Everything is expressed in numbers," said Kobakhidze.
Kobakhidze also touched on the indicators of poverty and noted that in 2012 the poverty rate in the country was 30%, which according to him, has been reduced to 11.8% according to last year's data.
“1,120,000 people lived below the poverty line in Georgia in 2012, and now, this figure has been reduced to 440,000. 680,000 people have been lifted out of absolute poverty, which is one of the main achievements, however, the fact that 440,000 people still live below the absolute poverty line is a major challenge and the main thing for us to take care of as much as possible. Given the pace we have today, I think poverty can be overcome in the medium term. The main thing is to maintain the pace of economic growth," he said.
