Georgian government limits purchase of expensive cars

Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili. (Official photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The government in Georgia plans to adopt rules that will regulate what type and mark of cars officials will be allowed to have according to their rank.

Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili presented the initiative during a more general press conference Thursday.

Government officials have recently been criticized for purchasing luxury vehicles and other items while the country’s economic growth in 2013 was only 2.5 percent and pensions are lower than the minimum wage, which is USD 80 a month.

The PM said there doesn’t exist any standards for officials to purchase cars and they didn’t know what standards they should act on the basis of. He said he wants people to understand why this or that official purchased an expensive car.

“Maybe they didn’t think and just purchased the cars which they had been purchasing over the years and thought this was the norm,” he continued.

The government will present a document which will be a manual for officials. The new rules are the initiative of previous PM Bidzina Ivanishvili.

“There will be a definition of which car officials of a certain rank can buy. As a result, a minister or other official will no longer end up in an awkward situation,” Gharibashvili said, adding that the document will be published in a few days, and as soon as the government approves it, everyone will be obliged to follow the rules.

“When it comes to computers and telephones, I am sorry, but purchasing a computer I think is normal.”