Joint Press Briefing has been held in response to the information released by NGO Transparency International – Georgia accusing Ministry of Finance of Georgia in misaccounting of public funds.
Ms. Rashmi Shankar, Lead Economist of the South Caucasus Regional Representation Office of the World Bank made a statement at the briefing together with Mr. Giorgi Tabuashvili, First Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia.
„The World Bank acknowledges that the Government estimates the estimates the fiscal deficit according to the legal provisions in the Budges Code (Article 18) and the Tax Code (Article 63, Clause 8) of Georgia, which provide clear guidance for accounting and reporting of budget transactions.
In addition, we, appreciate that the government provides us with detailed and transparent data that we can build on for our own analytical purposes. The Bank’s estimate of the fiscal deficit is 2.95 percent of GDP for 2014, which includes the to the Tax Refund Special Account and is agreed with the Government of Georgia based on the information provided by the Ministry of Finance.”