Prime Minister of Georgia announces new measures of social support
New measures of social support in Georgia
Prime Minister Irakli Garbiashvili announced new measures of social support for the country’s population at a government meeting on November 28.
Assistance to children of socially vulnerable families – 200 GEL
Starting July 1, 2023, the amount of payments to children of socially vulnerable families will be 200 lari [about $75], Garibashvili said:
“In 2023, we have decided on an increase in social benefits. Among these is an increase in assistance to socially vulnerable children. As you know, two years ago if I’m not mistaken, payments were 50 lari per child [about $20]. Starting July 1, this will rise to 200 GEL. That is, we will give 200 GEL per child in assistance, which is important. 65 million lari [about $24 million] will go toward this.”
The amount of maternity leave will be 2,000 GEL
Starting January 1, financial assistance to mothers employed in the private sector will double to 2,000 lari [about $740].
According to Garibashvili, the issue of maternity leave was rather difficult, but after discussions, it was decided to double the aid:
“Starting January 1, instead of 1,000 lari, it will be2,000 lari. And starting next year, teachers on maternity leave will receive their full salary.
Pharmacies and health care reform
Garibashvili issued a direct warning to the PSP pharmacy chain. The prime minister said that, according to certain information, consumers are being misled about medicines in pharmacies and there will be a harsh reaction from the authorities:
“A few days ago, I heard disturbing information that in PSP pharmacies there are cases of misleading customers when the seller says: “What kind of medicine do you want, high-quality or low-quality Turkish?” How can they manipulate our pensioners and the poor like this?”
Garibashvili mentioned the reform of this industry in Georgia, which involved opening the latter up to the Turkish pharmaceutical market. According to him, Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili is working on the issue of reducing medicine prices:
“We started the reform last year, in January. Then, on my initiative, the Turkish market was opened. We said that we would start importing quality medicines, which was done. You remember that at that time many were skeptical and did not believe in the success of this reform.”
According to the Prime Minister, as a result of this reform Georgians will save about 200 million lari [about $74 million] a year. As Garibashvili notes, “quality Turkish medicines entered the country” and because of this competition arose, which significantly reduced the cost of medicines.
“There was a time when medicines cost 200-300 lari [about $74-110]. These drugs became cheaper and now cost a third of that,” Gribashvili said.
Statistics
According to the Georgian Statistics Service, 13.7% of the total population in Georgia receives social benefits; every seventh person therefore lives below the poverty line. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of such people has increased by 16%. Now there are more than 510,343 people below this line.
On February 14 of this year, Prime Minister Garibashvili announced an employment program for socially vulnerable segments of the population and the employment of 200,000 people starting March 1. According to Garibashvili, this will have two effects: the unemployed who receive social benefits will have an increase in income, and new jobs will contribute to the creation of new infrastructure and the improvement of the existing one.
New measures of social support in Georgia
