Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced that the government has decided not to take the second tranche of a EU loan as “we are trying to reduce foreign debt”.
“We took a part of the loan in 2020. The second part of the EUR 75-million euro loan was not a grant and assistance, but a loan. Given that we have started reducing our foreign debt this year, it is highly likely that we will no longer need to receive this amount. We are grateful for all the help the EU has given us during the pandemic and in general for everything they are doing for us”, said Garibashvili.
In 2020, the EU disbursed a EUR 60-million grant as part of its EUR 75-million Covid-19 Resilience Contract for Georgia to assist in the implementation of the government’s Anti-Crisis Economic Plan.
The overall aim of EU financial support was to help citizens and businesses of Georgia recover from the impact of the pandemic.
The payment followed the EU’s transfer of EUR 100 million in loans for macro-financial assistance on November 25, 2020. Both payments were part of the wider 1.5-billion GEL EU support package for Georgia, which also covered support to the health and social sector and economic recovery. (Agenda/Business World Magazine)
