Prime Minister's Renewed Budget
Budget details
The new initiatives of the Prime Minister's renewed budget for more care, for more construction and for more jobs look as follows:
• Income tax decreases from 25% to 20%
• Dividend tax decreases from 10% to 5%
• Teacher's salary increases with 50 Lari, with 25 Lari from 1 January and 25 Lari from 1 September
• The number of those ensured beyond subsistence level increases from 700000 to 900000
• The social package increases significantly, with 169 million Lari:
• The age pension increases with 10 Lari from January and with 5 Lari from November
• Allowance to the handicapped increases with 5 Lari from 1 November
• The bonus for length of service and contribution becomes 10 Lari and is included in the pension package (until now, some got 2 Lari, others 5 Lari, 7 Lari or 10 Lari)
• The allowance to those beyond subsistence level increases - if it was 30 Lari until now and 12 Lari for each additional member, the figure will rise to 24 Lari
• The number of the beneficiaries beyond subsistence level - each of the 400000 poorest persons will get 30+24 (for 30 families +24 for each additional member). From 2009, the next 200000 will get 20+16, the next 300000 - 10+8. Overall, the 900000 most vulnerable will get allowance.
• Agrarian projects are increased with 57 million Lari
• 22 million Lari has been allocated to purchase tractors and plowing-sowing machines and push ahead with the tractorization program
• 15 million Lari will be apportioned to all the spheres to finance specific small projects, which will be implemented by the village population.
• 20 million Lari will be allocated to issue cheap credits towards creation of new jobs in the agricultural sector
• In all, 500 million Lari will be spent on the construction of roads, out of which 120 million Lari will go for regional and village roads
• The total budget allocations amount to 6.25 billion Lari
• ?? - plans are made to considerably reduce government administrative costs. The savings will be directed to social goals
• The work on the draft budget is continuing. The Parliament is also continuing the draft budget discussions and certain social parameters may increase further.