Georgian PM: millions in USAID and EU funding went mainly to NGOs, not state development

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday accused foreign partners of failing to make genuine efforts to help Georgia develop economically, saying the same approach is now being applied to Moldova, which he described as being in a severe economic crisis.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Kobakhidze noted that over the past five years Georgia’s economy had surpassed Moldova’s by $13.5 billion, further arguing that Moldova’s experience demonstrates that external support has not translated into economic development.

“The entire Ukrainian economy is approximately $200 billion. Anyone who understands economics even slightly knows very well that no one spends trillions in a $200 billion economy, including on reconstruction. You don’t need trillions for reconstruction when your economy is $200 billion. It is absurd. I don’t even want to go into the details here. One thing is important here: you can look at the practice. Let’s take the example of Moldova. I do not know of a single case where specific forces - the so-called 'deep state' and structures acting under its influence - stepped in and made a country flourish. Such an example does not exist. Moldova is a country with a population of about 3 million, or even less. Moldova has a very small population, and you know, a thousand loud statements were made regarding Moldova. They flooded it with loans, and these loans will later have to be repaid by the Moldovan people. What has been happening during this time, over the last 3 years, Moldova’s real economy has shrunk. If we compare the economies of Georgia and Moldova, we have surpassed Moldova by $13.5 billion over this five-year period”, Kobakhidze said.

He further added that the statements made by opponents, suggesting that EU candidate status theoretically meant the economic prosperity of the country, have been disproven by the examples of the Ukrainian and Moldovan economies.

“Where has anyone seen Moldova prosper? Even where agents are running a country, the so-called ‘deep state’ never seeks to strengthen that country. The example of Moldova is the best example. What is the approach? It is that your own people may run the country, but even that government should not be fully independent. The same example was the Georgian government [under the UNM]. You know that Saakashvili was a typical foreign agent, he was managed directly from the outside and fulfilled all instructions, including starting the war in 2008 upon external orders. But even there, what was happening? They were giving him instructions after which that government could never be fully independent. What I mean is, for example, the situation in the prisons, the order to start the war, the economy, as you know, was not flourishing during that period either, and you know that the Georgian economy was about 28 billion GEL back then, whereas today we have well exceeded 100 billion GEL. In other words, even the agent network should not be standing firmly on its feet. This is a simple approach”, he said.

According to the Prime Minister, had international partners genuinely invested in Georgia’s development, only a relatively small amount of funding would have been needed to strengthen the country’s economy.

“Compared to the amount of money currently being spent, for example, on financing the war in Ukraine, it would have required only a fraction of those resources. If we imagine that the war had never happened and those funds had instead been directed toward strengthening the economies of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, the impact would have been enormous. But the approach is that, regardless of whether your own agents govern a country or not, no state and no Government should be allowed to become truly strong. In reality, no one has genuinely helped our country throughout all these years, nor are they doing so today. They claim everything is in order in Moldova, yet they deliberately do nothing to help the country stand on its own feet”, he said.

“Over the past five years, we have widened the gap with Moldova by $13.5 billion in economic terms. Why? Because even where ‘their people’ and the ‘deep state’s’ people are in power, that Government must not be allowed to develop even the slightest sense of independence. It is a very simple approach. That is why, over recent years, an average of $100 million was spent annually in Georgia through USAID, under the previous US administration, and another approximately €100 million came from the European Union”, the PM added.

Kobakhidze concluded by emphasising that none of this funding supported the state.

“It was primarily directed toward financing NGOs, which, rather than supporting the state, were working against it”, he said.