First Vice PM warns opposition: economic sensitivity demands responsible political discourse

Levan Davitashvili, the First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, on Thursday responded to negative assessments voiced by representatives of certain opposition parties regarding the country’s economic trajectory.

“Economic processes are quite sensitive and directly related to the well-being of our citizens. Given that we do not have a particularly rich economic past, every irresponsible statement or step taken by politicians is completely unacceptable”, the Minister said in an interview with Imedi TV.

He further noted that such baseless statements about the Georgian economy often come from politicians who present themselves as experts in the economic field and claim to possess significant knowledge and experience.

“All international financial institutions have revised their forecasts for Georgia’s economic growth, and these forecasts are practically in line with those of the Georgian Government. Therefore, there is no discrepancy between the assessments of international professional institutions and our Government - the only disconnect lies in the opposition’s assessments”, Davitashvili continued.

“In my opinion, this discrepancy works in favour of the Georgian people, as the opposition’s pessimistic forecasts and wishes - that Georgia would fail to grow, face an economic crisis, and struggle with severe problems - are not in the interests of our citizens. These narratives serve the narrow political interests of certain opposition groups, whose main goal is to regain power at any cost”, he said.

Davitashvili also highlighted that, in recent years, a certain level of confidence had formed among foreign investors toward the decisions made by Georgia’s Government.