EUGBC & Amcham Georgia Meet the Minister of Finance of Georgia

On Monday, June 8, the American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia (AmCham Georgia) and EU-Georgia Business Council (EUGBC) organized a special roundtable meeting with the Minister of Finance, Kakha Baindurashvili. The meeting took place at Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel.

The Minister presented new economic data and provided information on the intended amendments to the Tax Code of Georgia. Baindurashvili announced that despite earlier calculations that the Georgian economy would continue to grow in 2009, now the government believes the economy has contracted by 1.5%. Tax revenues are also down; the ministry has recalculated the budget to reflect revenues worth 500 million lari less than anticipated. However he noted that the government is hopeful the economy will start to recover by the end of the year. Despite the affect of the world financial crisis, the government is still planning to revise the tax code. Changes to the tax on leasing, as well as some changes to the construction code, are anticipated. For more information, please see the MoF presentation "Georgian Economy Overview, June 2009" attached.

Members of both associations representing a significant portion of the international and Georgian business community held a lively discussion with the Minister and raised various questions around the planned changes to the tax code, the state budget, the state of the Georgian Economy, role and future of SMEs, etc.

The business community also discussed with the Minister points to be addressed for the speediest possible turnaround of the Georgian economy that is suffering due to the global financial crisis as well as the current political impasse.

The Minister stressed a strong will of the Ministry’s cooperation with the business community. Both business associations expressed readiness to frequently arrange meetings with relevant government bodies on these and other issues sensitive to Georgian businesses.