Irakli Kupradze: “The budget for stray animals has been cut, the budget for emergency housing has not increased and free canteens still provide a daily meal of just GEL 1.70.”
Verdict: FactCheck concludes that Irakli Kupradze’s statement is TRUE.
The animal monitoring programme, which covers care for stray animals, has been cut by GEL 4.3 million in the 2026 draft budget as compared with this year, totalling GEL 11.4 million, despite the daily visibility of this problem with dozens of stray dogs and cats roaming every district. This part of Irakli Kupradze’s statement is true.
The funds for rehabilitating emergency housing have also been reduced by GEL 9.2 million, leaving GEL 7 million for 2026, confirming that his point about emergency housing being a major city issue is accurate.
Free canteens will still spend GEL 1.70 per day per beneficiary under the 2026 draft budget even as average annual inflation hit 5.2% in October and food prices for the canteen menu rose 11.8% as compared with last October.
Considering the above, FactCheck concludes that Irakli Kupradze’s statement is TRUE.
Analysis
During an appearance on Rustavi 2’s Ghamis Kurieri (Night Courier), Lelo – Strong Georgia coalition representative Irakli Kupradze spoke about the Tbilisi budget, stating: “The Tbilisi budget is being approved, the budget for stray animals has been cut, the budget for emergency housing has not increased at all and free canteens still provide a daily meal of GEL 1.70.”
Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated – “The city’s main financial document – the 2026 draft budget for Tbilisi – is ready and has already been submitted to the city assembly.“ The 2026 draft budget totals GEL 2,082,482,000, slightly more than the 2025 budget by GEL 100,000, according to Kaladze.
We reviewed the 2026 draft budget for Tbilisi.
The care of stray animals falls under the Animal Monitoring Programme (code 09.02). Its objectives include ensuring proper conditions for municipal shelters (veterinary, sanitary, safety, technical), protecting residents from dangerous or aggressive animals and managing their capture and relocation or isolation, controlling animal populations, carrying out necessary veterinary measures, responding promptly and effectively to public reports and transporting and housing animals in appropriate municipal or private shelters.
A total of GEL 11,355,400 is allocated for animal monitoring according to the 2026 draft budget. This compares with GEL 15,654,100 planned for the same purpose this year whilst the actual 2024 budget was GEL 7,500,300. As we can see, funding for the programme will be cut by GEL 4,298,700 in 2026 even as the stray animal problem in Tbilisi remains acute. Without special research, it is clear that the city’s streets are filled with stray animals, particularly dogs, some of which are sick and pose a risk to the public.
There were approximately 30,000 stray dogs in the capital according to the statistical data from the Animal Monitoring Agency a year ago. A total of 10,998 dogs and 2,631 cats were transferred to shelters, 9,033 animals underwent surgery – including 5,377 sterilisations and 3,242 castrations – 217 animals were euthanised and 1,759 died of natural causes in 2024.
Regarding the second issue raised by Irakli Kupradze – the budget for reinforcing emergency housing – the Emergency Building Reinforcement Programme (code 02.02) aims to improve living conditions. In Tbilisi, this includes the urgent demolition, restoration – and rehabilitation of emergency buildings – ultimately reducing the number of unsafe residences and ensuring public safety.
The 2026 draft budget for the capital allocates gel 7,000,000 to the rehabilitation of emergency buildings. This year’s budget for the same purpose is GEL 16,195,100 whilst last year GEL 7,260,000 was spent. The data indicates that emergency building budget has been cut by GEL 9,195,100. Irakli Kupradze is correct on this point.
Kupradze also mentioned the budget for free canteens.
In the capital, 64 municipal canteens operate, serving more than 40 000 beneficiaries in recent years.
Only socially vulnerable individuals with a rating score of 200 000 or less are eligible to be added to the list of free canteen beneficiaries. In special cases, inclusion can also occur based on a motivated decision by the district governor.
The order of inclusion is determined by the registration date of the application, giving priority to applicants whose applications were registered earlier. Initially, individuals are added to an additional list and the main list is supplemented from this additional list. The number of beneficiaries on the additional list must not exceed 5 % of the main list.
According to the 2026 draft budget for the capital, GEL 26,277,800 is allocated for free canteen services (code 06 02 14). Furthermore, GEL 26,401,900 is allocated for the same purpose this year and GEL 26,151,900 was spent last year.
The daily cost of serving one free canteen beneficiary remains GEL 1.70 under the 2026 budget.
The composition and calorie content of the free canteen menu are predetermined. Each beneficiary receives one hot meal per day which consists of various soups, a porridge made from grains, fruit juice, and bread.
For the past four years, the daily cost of serving one beneficiary has remained GEL 1.70 – even though, according to GeoStat, average annual inflation was 9.6 % in 2021, 11.9 % in 2022, 2.5 % in 2023, and 1.1% in 2024. In the first ten months of the current year, average annual inflation reached 5.2%. Food prices have increased by 11.8 % as compared to the same period last year, contributing 3.88 percentage points to annual inflation. Prices are up across multiple subgroups: fruit and grapes (21 %), vegetables and melons (19.4 %), sugar, jam and other sweets (17.2 %), fish (16.9 %), oils and fats (13.9 %), bread and bakery products (12.4 %), mineral and spring water, soft drinks and juices (10.4 %), coffee, tea and cocoa (10.2 %), milk, cheese and eggs (8.1 %) and meat and meat products (4.9 %).
As we can see, food prices have increased by 11.8 % as compared to last year – yet the daily allocation for beneficiaries of the free canteens remains set at GEL 1.70 for 2026 as well.
Considering the materials discussed, FactCheck concludes that Irakli Kupradze’s statement is TRUE.
