Page 7 - GEORptOct20

Wearing a mask, keeping social distance and maintaining basic hygiene are the rules we all have to follow. The simple truth is that in today's developed world no one has come up with a better idea than the above against the spread of the virus. Therefore we must follow these rules and even though we have an increase, we have to get used to living with the virus,” he says.
“It is easy to stop the infection, we can easily declare a state of emergency, but we do not want all this—we want education to continue, economy to continue, political processes to continue, and therefore we must follow the basic rules,” he added.
But it is not necessary to set new restrictions, according to the Deputy Minister of Health, Tamar Gabunia as ​quoted​ by IPN.ge.
Georgia will have the status of an ‘orange’ or ‘red’ country if the number of cases of coronavirus moves up to 500 to 700 per day. Despite the sharp rise, the number has remained below 300.
Gakharia, meanwhile, said that the government and the National Bank of Georgia have enough resources to start Georgia's economic recovery quickly, which will have a rapid impact on the exchange rate of the national currency, the lari. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) backs the central bank’s policy of smoothing the exchange rate fluctuations and estimates that the country has enough reserves to continue doing this.
2.2​ ​Saakashvili sees himself as interim Georgian PM after general election
The exiled third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who serves as the informal leader of Georgia’s second-biggest political force, the United National Movement (UNM), has said that he sees himself as the head of an interim government of Georgia after the October 31 general election.
Currently, Saakashvili holds Ukrainian but not Georgian citizenship and chairs the executive committee of the Ukrainian National Reform Council in Kyiv. Saakashvili has stated that the UNM, the party founded by him, has the potential to form a government if allied with other opposition parties.
“I am sure that the party has the potential to win the majority of votes in the October 31 parliamentary election and form a government through cooperation with other parties. I see myself as the head of the interim government which will be able to take the country out of the existing, severe crisis,” Saakashvili told TV Pirveli.
He stated that the UNM was in consultations with the European Georgia opposition party, which includes several former top members of the UNM. The leaders of European Georgia, however, recently accused Saakashvili of making statements that affect the opposition’s interests and benefit the ruling Georgian Dream party ahead of October’s race.
Georgian Dream party members generally take the stance that Saakashvili’s statements are “comical” and say that the former president, who faces several charges in Georgia, and his party “have zero chance” of winning the election.
7​ GEORGIA Country Report ​October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com