Official visit expenses

From 1st of January, 2013 till 8th of July, 2014 the total amount of the official visit expenses of Prime Ministers of Georgia – Bidzina Ivanishvili and Irakli Gharibashvili has amounted to 155 825 GEL. Out of these the official visit expenses of Bidzina Ivanishvili were 19 613 GEL (daily allowance - 6 899 GEL, hotel- 12 741 GEL), while Irakli Gharibashvili’s official visit expenses were 136 212 GEL (daily allowance 14 886 GEL, hotel – 98 004 GEL, travel - 23 332 GEL). The most expensive visit of former Prime-Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili was in France with total cost of 7 758 GEL, while the most expensive visit of Irakli Gharibashvili was in the USA - 43 817 GEL.

As mentioned above, the most expensive visit of Prime-Minister of Georgia in 2013-2014 was to the USA. According to the official document published on the web-site of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia, the duration of visit was from 22nd of February until 1st of March, 2014, with daily hotel expenses - 2198 GEL and daily allowance of 364 GEL. If we compare hotel expenses of the former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili during his stay in the USA from 24th April till 2nd of May, 2013, the difference is quite substantial. Within the 9 day-trip of the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili to US, the hotel expenses have amounted to 43 300 USD, or about 4 800 USD daily.

From 1st of January until 8th of July, 2014, the total cost of the official visits abroad the senior officials of Chancellery of Georgia has amounted to 156 191 GEL, out of which the largest amount was spent on the visit of head of the department – Giorgi Mirtskhulava - 52 196 GEL and the visit of the deputy of Chancellery head - Nino Kobakhidze - 39 358 GEL. The largest part of their expenses is connected to roaming service. In case of Giorgi Mirtskhulava the roaming expenses are 25 092 GEL, while in case of Nino Kobakhidze – 19 855 GEL.

In 2013, 162 633 GEL was spent on official visit to attend World Economic forum which took place in Davos. Out of the total sum hotel expenses have amounted to 106 788 GEL, 15 416 GEL was spent on travel while the amount of roaming expenses was 6191 GEL.

Consulting service expenses

310 000 USD has been spent in 2013-2014 for advisory service of the Chancellery of Georgian Government. The abovementioned amount was paid to a Lobbyist Company PATTON BOGGS LLP. According to the agreement signed on provision of consulting services, the company assists Georgia in bilateral relations with the USA, promotes Georgia’s aspiration to the NATO, in relations with the government of the USA and the congress, the media and decision makers, helps in organizing events and meetings in order to spread information in the US about ongoing situation in Georgia.

In light of this, it is worth mentioning that before October 2012 elections the former Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili was actively using the services of the abovementioned Lobbyist Company.

Representation expenses

The total amount of representation expenses of the Chancellery of Georgian Government in 2013 has amounted to 485 143 GEL. The largest part of this amount, 118 864 GEL was spent on the event organized for 26th of May on Bazaleti Lake. The representation expenses incurred for inauguration of the President have amounted to 100 302 GEL. 

Urgent procurements

In 2013, 70 889 GEL was spent on urgent procurements of the Chancellery of Georgia. The largest amount (11 350 GEL) was spent on urgent purchasing of 3 “Metal Detectors”.

Remuneration of the out-of-staff members

Currently there are 70 out-of-staff employees in the Chancellery of the Government. As compared to the previous year this number has been substantially increased. For instance, by 1st September of 2012, the number of out-of-staff employees was four times less.

The growing number of not on the staff employees has resulted in increase of their remuneration expenses. In 2013 the total amount spent on remuneration of out-of-staff employees was 484 754 GEL, while for the first half of the current year already 770 064 GEL has been spent. Besides, it should be mentioned that the amount of bonuses given to out of staff employees in 2014 was only 1 875 GEL in contrast with 40 739 GEL in 2013. Therefore it can be concluded that the increase of costs on out of staff employees in 2014 is directly associated with substantial growth of the number of employees.

Bonuses and salary supplements

With the Decree N52 (15th of September, 2013) of the Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and the order N44 (28th of February, 2013) the regulation of salary supplements of the head and other officials of the Chancellery has been defined. It should be mentioned that according to the abovementioned decrees monthly salary supplement is defined only for the head of Chancellery 4335 GEL gross (3468 GEL net).

According to the received documents, abovementioned decrees defined only salary supplement of the head of the Chancellery, while the competence to decide upon salary supplement of other civil servants has been given to the Chancellery head. Besides, according to the documents, there are no more cases of monthly bonuses, however, the practice of monthly salary supplements has been established. For instance, starting from March, 2013 (after the abovementioned order) the heads of the departments Irakli Karseladze and Gaioz Talakvadze received salary supplement of 5 075 GEL a month, the same amount as the monthly bonuses received in previous months. Besides, the income received by them in 2013 as bonuses and salary supplements exceeds the income of the head of the Chancellery.

According to the data in 2012 and 2013 budget implementation report, the total amount of bonuses given in 2013 has been decreased by 1 795 958 GEL, while the amount of salary supplements has been increased by 1 407 208 GEL.

In January 2014, the Prime-minister Irakli Gharibashvili issued the order which defines the same rule for giving salary supplements to the civil servants of the Government Chancellery.

Thus, according to the data of first 6 months of 2014, the rule of giving salary supplements has not been changed. Most of deputy heads of the Chancellery and heads of departments receive 5075 GEL gross (4060 GEL net) a month as salary supplements. 

During the 6 months of 2014, the bonuses are given to the following senior officials.

As the information given above indicates, since March 2013 monthly bonuses of the Chancellery of the Government have been replaced by salary supplements. In case of various senior officials salary supplements exceed salaries.

Last but not least we would like to note that on July 15, 2014 the Government of Georgia adopted decree on rule of defining the amount of bonuses in civil service, which will regulate issuing of bonuses in all sub-agencies of the Government. Besides, package of legislative amendments has been initiated in the Parliament of Georgia, also relating to regulation of bonuses. However, as the data given above (and the practice in other public institutions) has clearly shown, along with bonuses the issue of regulating salary supplement on legislative basis should also be discussed.

We believe that, the current remuneration system of the Civil Service needs more complex reform, including proportional increase of salaries and adjusting bonuses and salary supplements in accordance with salaries. Such approach excludes necessity of giving bonuses or salary supplements larger than salaries. We believe that this problem will definitely be solved with implementation of Civil Service Reform concept. Implementation of the reform will enable the government to freely attract and maintain highly qualified personnel, based not on the salaries but on salary supplements or bonuses.