On 30 September, as a guest of the TV programme, Archevani,

Zurab Japaridze spoke about the increased governmental expenditures. The deputy noted that governmental expenditures increased by GEL 138 million last year and by GEL 130 million in the first six months of this year. In addition, according to Mr Japaridze, next year’s governmental costs will be higher by GEL 323 million as compared to 2012.

FactCheck

took interest in the accuracy of the statement and decided to verify it.

In his statement, the deputy referred to the expenditures allocated from the budget for salaries. The amount allocated for remuneration amounted to GEL 1,049 million in 2012. In 2013, it increased to GEL 1,187 million which is GEL 138 million more than last year’s amount. The expenditures, envisaged in the 2014 budget for salaries, amount to GEL 1,318 million which is GEL 269 million than the same index of 2012. Further, GEL 1,372 million has been allocated for remuneration in the 2015 budget which is GEL 323 million more than the index of 2012.

Even if the abovementioned numbers coincide with the data provided by the deputy, it must be noted that these numbers include not only the expenditures allocated for sustaining the government but also the remuneration allocated for other public facilities which are being funded from the budget such as defence, public security and order, and education, etc. Therefore, the numbers, mentioned by the deputy include not only the expenditures made to sustain the Cabinet or the Central Office of the Ministries but also the funds allocated for the salary fund of police officers, judges and military personnel, for example.

It should also be noted that the deputy’s statement was based upon the data of the funds allocated from the state budget for remuneration. Therefore, the expenditures did not include local self-governments and autonomous republics envisaged in the consolidated budget’s remuneration budget line.

According to Article 78 of the Constitution of Georgia, the Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers. The composition of the Government may also include State Ministers. Therefore, if we speak of the expenditures for sustaining the Government, the expenditures of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers should be counted and not the remuneration of employees of the public sector in the country.

According to the 2015 budget, a notable increase of remuneration is planned in the Ministries of Defence, Internal Affairs, Justice, and Culture and Monument Protection. The table below shows those institutions in which a notable increase of remuneration is planned.

Table 1.  Remuneration in Budgetary Institutions in 2013-2015

GEL million	2013 (factual)	2014 (planned)	2015 (projected)
Ministry of Justice	29.7	37.5	39.5
Ministry of Defence	354.7	390.9	404.3
Ministry of Internal Affairs	372.2	398.9	403.8
Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection	4.5	5.5	52.5
Ministry of Agriculture	13.5	19.1	19.4
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection	11.2	16.5	19.8

As for the remuneration of the executive and representative bodies (which can be considered as governmental bodies in a non-formal way), the salaries of the executive and representative bodies amounted to GEL 127 million in 2012 and increased to GEL 132 million in 2013. Thus, the difference is only GEL 5 million. In the first six months of the current year, the expenditures on the remuneration of the executive and representative bodies amount to GEL 66 million whilst the same index of 2013 was GEL 65 million. Therefore, we have not had an increase in salaries.

Graph 1 shows the dynamics of the funds allocated for the remuneration of the Administration of the President and the Government. According to it, there is no notable increase in the remuneration in the given institutions.

Source:  Ministry of Finance of Georgia

In addition, we should also note that apart from the remuneration, the budgetary expenditures on state service include such expenditures as the purchase of product and service by the state, expenditure on social security, subsides allocated to sectors and other expenditures necessary for the provision of the products and service of the state purpose.

In 2012, according to the budget completion report, the expenditures on the maintenance and activity of executive and representative bodies amounted to GEL 339 million (including 44% on salaries). In 2013 the same index was GEL 313 million (including 46% on salaries) which is less than the index of 2012. This year, GEL 374 million was allocated for the funding of the activity of the executive and representative organisations. According to the 2015 budget, the funding of the executive and representative organisations will be increased to GEL 419 million. As we can see the funding of the executive and representative organisations (so-called bureaucracy) will increase by GEL 80 million as compared to 2012 although it is unknown for us at this stage which part of the expenditures falls upon remuneration. Nevertheless, a planned increase in the expenditures is a fact and so we can also speak of an increase in so-called bureaucratic expenditures although not on the scale to which the deputy referred.

Conclusion

The actual and planned budgetary expenditures on remuneration have indeed increased since 2012; in particular, by GEL 138 million in 2013. Based upon the 2014 plan, the increase amounts to GEL 269 million whilst in the 2015 budget projection, GEL 1,372 million are allocated for remuneration which is GEL 323 million more than the same index of 2012.

We should mention, however, that the given expenditures include the remuneration allocated for members of the Government as well as for defence, public security and order, education and other public services.

As for the activity of the executive and representative bodies (so-called bureaucracy), their funding will indeed be increased by GEL 80 million in 2015 as compared to 2012 (although perhaps not because of a large-scale increase in remuneration).

Based upon the reviewed information, FactCheck concludes that Zurab Japaridze’s statement is MOSTLY FALSE.