TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgia’s state accounts by are by September 2012 at one of the highest levels during the past few years at more than two billion, nearly USD 1.22 billion.

The state budget for 2013 is 9 billion lari, USD 5.5 billion, which is more than half a billion lari more than the budget of 2012.

Vano Merabishvili, current prime minister, said this Monday after a meeting with the current finance minister.

A week ago, the opposition coalition Georgian Dream gained victory in the parliamentary election.

President Saakashvili admitted defeat and said he and his force are moving into opposition. The president also said that when the new coalition Georgian Dream puts its personnel into government, he won’t intervene, even though he has a constitutional right to.

The new government is not officially recognized yet, but Georgian Dream representatives already mentioned they will have a difficult heritage, as the government has no money today.

The current prime minister said that he met the finance minister with a goal to find out what is the situation in financial regards. He noted that currently the state has enough expenses and reserves so that the next government will be able to accomplish its promises.

The finance minister informed Prime Minister Vano Merabisvhili about the current amount of money on state accounts and also on international currency reserves at the National Bank.

He said currently it is more than two billion lari, which is higher than it has been for the latest years.

USD 557.6 million out of this amount is on the accounts of the state, USD 122 – local government accounts, USD 194 – accounts of Public Law Legal Entities, USD 355.8 – accounts of state enterprises.

The finance minister says draft data for the 2013 budget are fiscally healthy. The figures have already been sent to parliament for further review.

The budget deficit against GDP will decrease from 3.5 percent to 2.8 percent.

“The extent of the budget reached record data in the history of Georgia and its expenditure part is 8.5 million lari (USD 5.2 billion), while the common budget exceeded 9 billion lari (USD 5.5 billion),” Alexandre Khetaguri said.

He added that it is planned to increase the common budget by 500 million lari, or USD 303 million, for 2013.

The minister says Georgia has adequate international reserves. Specifically, the official reserve assets of the National Bank in September of 2012 were more than USD 2.9 billion.

In addition, the inflation indicator is low and there is not expected any significant increase.

He says Georgia has a strong sustainable position in regards to finances.