PM on welfare audit: We have taken a painful but vital decision: social assistance will remain strictly for those genuinely in need

“We have taken this painful but vital decision to ensure the list of social assistance recipients reflects objective data. Consequently, this process will continue, and only those individuals who genuinely require state support will remain on the register,” stated Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze while speaking to journalists in Batumi.

The head of government noted that the allocation criteria governing social assistance are so unambiguous that no political actor could exploit the system for electoral advantage.

“Back in 2020, the rolls were updated, and the list of benefit recipients was expanded. Because the COVID-19 pandemic was severely worsening the socio-economic backdrop at the time, an informal moratorium was effectively maintained after 2020, partly to avoid provoking public friction, along with various other objective and subjective factors.

We have now taken a bold decision; taking such a step is never easy. The criteria governing the distribution of welfare benefits are so transparent and explicit that no one can weaponise this process for electoral gain.

We made a courageous, decisive choice to initiate a comprehensive review of these rolls, which is inherently a painful process. Others at various stages may have shied away from making such a difficult call, sometimes for understandable reasons. However, we took this painful yet necessary step to ensure that the welfare rolls strictly reflect objective reality. Moving forward, the audit will proceed, and state aid will be reserved exclusively for those who truly depend on it,” Kobakhidze concluded.