Government Submits 2003 Draft Budget with Minor Amendments

(Tbilisi, January 8, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Today the Finance Ministry will submit a new draft of the 2003 budget to the Parliament. MPs in the end of December rejected the draft.

The Finance Minister Mirian Gogiashvili told the reporters today that there is not many amendments in the new draft budget.

President Shevardnadze expressed regret that the MPs failed adoption of the budget. He hailed the existing draft and said it will be submitted to the Parliament without any important changes.

The Parliamentary special session, which is to discuss the draft budget was anticipated for January 9 but is postponed for the next week.