Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri has expressed willingness to debate with Secretary General of President Mikheil Saakashvili's party United National Movement (UNM) Vano Merabishvili, the Finance Ministry said on its official Facebook page, Azerbaijani news agency Trend reported.

The proposal was also accepted by Merabishvili. He recently said Georgia faces a financial crisis and cited problems with the collection of taxes. But the minister says there is no budget crisis in the country.

"I am ready to take part in debates with the United National Movement Secretary General regarding the state budget, prospects of the country's economic development and the government's plans," Khaduri said.

The TV debates are due to be held live on Rustavi-2 television channel at 10 p.m. next Tuesday.

A day earlier, UNM has made a statement about a financial and economic crisis in the country.

A decline in economic activity, export and import volumes, trade and industry has led to the crisis, Merabishvili said at a briefing on Tuesday.

He said that all these factors have resulted in a dangerous increase in debt between the country's economic entities and the debt is starting to become threatening.

Merabishvili opposed the practice of preliminary tax payments by companies introduced by the new Georgian government.

"We stopped this practice after coming to power in 2004, but the new government cannot collect taxes and tries to solve the problem by these means. However, this will only worsen the situation," he said.

The UNM secretary general accused the government of pressuring business which resulted in the companies' being subjected to inspections by the Finance Ministry, Prosecutor's Office and even the Interior Ministry.

"During my time in office as Interior Minister, I banned inspections of business by the police. However, this practice has now been resumed," he said.

Merabishvili also promised to provide specific figures next Tuesday, and called on the government to take urgent action to remedy the economic situation in the country.