The final version of the draft budget for 2021 has been submitted to the Parliament of Georgia. It should be noted that the final version of the draft budget also includes expenditures related to the pandemic.

The volume of state budget expenditures increases by GEL 221.9 million compared to the approved budget for 2020 and amounts to GEL 18,384.5 million, of which more than GEL 890 million is earmarked for funding the new ცoronavirus pandemic and the crisis-related measures.

However, unlike the initial version of the draft budget, which predicted economic growth of 5% in 2021, the final version of the draft budget states that according to current forecasts, real GDP growth is expected to reach 4.3% by 2021, and in the medium term will be maintained within 5.5% range.

As for the budget tax revenues, according to the updated forecast for 2021, the budget tax revenues in nominal terms amount to 12 045.0 million GEL, which is 155 million GEL less than the first submission of the draft budget for 2021. As explained in the document, the decrease is due to the effect of tax incentives provided to the private sector under the new phase of the anti-crisis plan.

At the same time, by the end of 2021, the government debt defined by the Law of Georgia on Economic Freedom will be set at 60.1% of GDP. As for the marginal volume of public debt, by the end of 2021 it will be set at GEL 33,680.1 million, including government external debt - GEL 27,734.2 million, and government domestic debt - GEL 5,945.8 million. According to the draft budget, the debt will be slightly reduced in the coming years and by 2024 will be 57.6% of GDP.

source: IPN