Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

The unemployment level is decreasing in Georgia, Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri told journalists on January 13.

"Despite the slowdown in economic growth in 2013, about 30,000 new jobs were created in the business sector with the beginning of the year, including in the third quarter, that is, the unemployment rate decreased," the minister said.

Khaduri stressed that "all the talks about the growth of unemployment in Georgia are groundless".

"The International Monetary Fund had a similar outlook, but later it was changed because they decided that the methodology was not perfect for this kind of forecast," Khaduri said commenting on forecasts of Economic Policy Research Center of Georgia, which said the unemployment rate in Georgia stands at 17 percent.

Unemployment rate in Georgia was 15 percent in 2012, National Statistics Office reported.

International Monetary Fund predicts that the unemployment in Georgia will reach 17.3 percent in 2014.