Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

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Anti-crisis plan - to mitigate the economic damage, considerations shared by the Minister to the representatives of the wine sector

At the meeting with the representatives of the wine sector, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture highlighted measures, which will be taken under the anti crisis plan  to mitigate the economic damage caused by the pandemic. The Executive Director of the Georgian Wine Association Tina Kezeli, and the head of about 20 companies of the Association participated in the online meeting.

"It is important to minimize the economic damage caused by Covid 19 crisis in the country. At the online meeting, we brought forward economic effects of the pandemic on the wine sector. I have introduced specific proposals to the companies of the Association, which are envisaged by the anti-crisis plan, under which, agricultural entrepreneurs, as well as winemakers will be able to use more credit and financial resources to deal with the current challanges. Despite the current crisis, we must be prepared for grape harvest season, our companies should adopt high tech equipment to improve technical capacity of enterprises and increase their productivity. Entrepreneurs must continue investing in the wine sector to come out of the crisis with fewer losses "- said Levan Davitashvili.

"Georgian Government has taken much more important steps to promote the wine sector, than other more developed countries did in recent years. The Ministry has developed initiatives for both small and large scale businesses. Effective communication is very important during crisis, we should  effectively use this time and be prepared to take further actions "- said Tina Kezeli.

It’s worth mentioning, that changes were made in the preferential agro-credit program in accordance with the anti-crisis plan, financing of grape processing enterprises has been added to the fixed asset component and lease. The co-financing interest rate will be 11% instead of 8%, whereby,  maximum loan limit is increased from 20,000 GEL to 1,500,000 GEL.

The loan to disbuse for grape processing is also increasing from 1,500,000 GEL to 5,000,000 GEL under the subcomponent of food industry. The agency will co-finance the interest rate at an annual rate of 10% for 24 months.

The companies "Bolero", "Gruzvinprom", "Tbilissi Distillery", "Kvareli Basement", "Caucasian Alco" and "Askaneli Brothers" purchased emergency medical equipment  in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Levan Davitashvili thanked the representatives of the companies for providing support to the  healthcare system in the current pandemic crisis facing the country.