Georgia Competitiveness and Growth DPO2

The Program Development Objective is to support competitiveness and inclusive growth. This will be achieved by: (i) Improving competitiveness through efforts to enhance market access for exports and foreign investment, facilitate trade, strengthen the investment climate in the power sector, and modernize and build a high quality education system. These measures will support investment and exports as well as productivity increases needed for both capacity and job creation; (ii) Strengthening public financial management by improving accounting controls through the phased introduction of IPSAS and better coverage and transparency of the budget. The Government has already started expanding performance based budgeting to all levels of the Government. As part of the focus on results andquality of spending, the measures under the proposed CG DPO series will support better accountability, coverage, and transparency of the budget; and (iii) Enhancing the effectiveness of social spending by strengthening social safety nets through improved quality of and access to health services and efficiency of the targeted social assistance program. The measures under this pillar will support the enforcement of upgraded quality standards in hospitals and laboratories and will also support wider access to health care services through an expansion in state-funded insurance. In addition, the efficiency of administration of the targeted programs will beimproved to ensure that applicants to both the Targeted Social Assistance and the Medical Insurance Program face smaller processingtimes before receiving benefits.