TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia’s new prime minister Vano Merabishvili has already started making promises, as only three months are left until the parliamentary elections.

In a speech Monday in the Gldani district of Tbilisi, near a construction site of a vocational school, the former interior minister promised that from next year, every family will receive a one thousand lari voucher, which will be valid for four years. This is about USD 600 for each family.

Merabishvili explained the voucher with a wish to help families and let them decide what to do with those one thousand lari.

“We have a proposal that with a thousand lari voucher Georgian citizens could pay taxes for electricity, gas and other utilities. Farmers could buy fertilizer, fuel or other agricultural equipment.”

Merabishvili also promised to create a three billion lari health care insurance for every citizen of Georgia.

He added that the president’s promise to raise pensions to USD 100 will be enforced by 2013.