Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia discussed issuance of the financial benefits envisaged by the government’s Anti-Crisis Plan – social assistance packages, as well as compensation for unemployed and self-employed persons – with representatives of the relevant agencies earlier today.

It was decided during the meeting that issuance of social assistance will begin in late May and proceed on a step-by-step basis. According to the government’s Anti-Crisis Plan, socially vulnerable citizens will additionally receive 600 GEL in total in aid from the state over a period of six months.

Furthermore, the families whose social rating score is between 0 and 100,000 and who have three or more children under the age of 16 will receive state assistance over a period of six months amounting to 600 GEL in total. There are 21,000 families that satisfy these criteria in Georgia today. Additionally, people with severe disabilities and disabled children will also receive state assistance in the amount of 600 GEL over a period of six months, and there are 40,000 citizens meeting these criteria in Georgia.

The Revenue Service provided PM’s office with information on the hired employees that were officially employed but lost their jobs during the crisis; they will receive a total of 1,200 GEL in assistance from the state over a period of six months. They will receive their compensation in stages, starting from the end of May.

As for self-employed persons, currently over 33,000 persons have registered in the special database for self-employed people. They will begin receiving compensation once the relevant documents have been studied.

During the meeting, attention was also paid to the challenges facing citizens with regard to online registration. As per the prime minister’s instructions, 70 territorial units of the Social Service Agency of the Ministry of Healthcare will work more actively throughout Georgia in order to make it as easy as possible for the population to have access to online registration and, correspondingly, to ensure the swift disbursement of the financial assistance packages envisaged by the governmental Anti-Crisis Plan.