President: first and foremost we have proved to ourselves - we can work and earn

Sukhum. September 9. Apsnypress. Opening the press conference, RA President Raul Khadjimba said: "Abkhazia come into the 4th quarter of 2015, not only to maintain hope for the future, but also with certain achievements. This year was the most difficult for all 6 years, in terms of financial and economic situation in Russia and throughout the former Soviet space. Everywhere there are inflationary and devaluation processes, there is a decline of production, reduced consumer demand, business activity falls, falling real incomes of people. Abkhazia's economy in recent years has evolved in a way that turned out to be totally protected from external shocks, it has no margin of safety. Therefore, in the current difficult conditions, we did not have the right to go with the flow and act on inertia. Our response to the crisis began from an active work on harnessing internal resources of development".  

President stressed that he meant very specific things. Such as: the elimination of the shadow economy, increase tax collection and customs duties, optimization of regular number of public institutions, the introduction of non-cash forms of payment, legislative reform in tax structure and business, to stimulate the development of real production. As a result of measures already in the 1st half managed to surpass the budget execution plan for income by 3.5%. "Yes, a small figure. But it is an indicator of how the work differs from similar processes of the previous years ", - said Khadjimba. According to him, the growth of the revenue part of 2014 with respect to 23%, and with respect to 2013 - 10%. At the same time, 2013 was the most funded by the Russian Federation, while, in this year these figures are much lower for various reasons.

The President also informed that on August 31 he was presented the draft budget for 2016, the parameters of which are markedly different from the figures of the previous years. Raul Khadjimba announced statistics: "The national budget will be more than 9 billion rubles. Of these, about 5 billion - financial assistance of the Russian Federation. 3 billion 162 million - on the investment program, and 2 billion 109 million - budgetary investments for separate wage structures. Our own budget, republican, plus local budgets, in general, will be 5 billion 711 million. This is almost two times more than in previous years. In the near future Parliament will receive the draft budget, and we will begin to work together on the implementation of the relevant figures and the projects that will fulfill the budget".  

"Most importantly, we have proved to ourselves - we can work and earn money, we are able to get out in the foreseeable future to an acceptable level of self-financing. And we will do it! Because talks about sovereignty without links to the economic base are meaningless", - said Khadjimba. 

President also noted that the work on the return of previously issued loans "can be successful". Thus, as of September 1, returned already 473 million rubles of credit money. As a consequence of this work, it was decided to lend small business. 

In addition, according to Raul Khadjimba, most parts of the country are working to raise wages to state employees. More than 2 times increased operating profit of the National Bank. In the near future will run treasury system of budget execution. 

President said: "The volume of unaccounted capital, including property and cash circulating in Abkhazia is so huge that the total value of such assets in the hundreds of times faster than the budget. This is a huge shadow space which we have consistently and confidently replace in legal economic relations".  

The President also responded to "all sorts of radical statements": "We all should understand - he said - that patriotism is to understand the need to live and work honestly, legally and honestly, not thinking only of yourself and your well-being, but bearing in mind the general welfare of the country and society. Everyone has to take responsibility for yourself, your home, your yard, street, village, town - and as a result the country. I invite all the forces in our society to participate in the creation of Abkhazia. We must always remember that it is not in the personalities and institutions. Let's strengthen these institutions, create the framework of prosperous future of our country. In this case, every effort is needed".  

Answering the question of "Apsnypress" on the results of visits to the country's educational institutions, as well as the prospects of the tourism industry, Raul Khadjimba said: "With regard to education. There are some success that are well visible, but there are drawbacks. There are old schools, requiring substantial investment. The process of building relationships, allowing the authorities and educational institutions to operate at the appropriate level, has already begun. There is a repair of a particular school. Yesterday I was in a Russian school, in Ochamchira, a horrifying picture! It is necessary to take urgent measures. As for the resort industry, I can say that this year the number of tourist arrivals is far different from the previous years. On August 12 the number of people crossed the border in both directions, was about more than 4 mln people. More than 720,000 cars entered RA, more than 1 thousand buses carrying tourists, more than 9 million cars with numbers of other states (not Russian). As of September 1, Ritsa National Park was visited by 450 thousand people, the same figure for 2014 was only 197,000. Athos complex amounted number of tourist arrivals to about 300 thousand. For the first time we see a positive trend in many areas of the economy. For example, the debts of the resort Pitsunda which existed for several years, are closed. Nevertheless, the level of service is low. And next year will be even harder for us".  

Talking about issues of intergovernmental agreements with Russia in the framework of the Treaty of alliance and strategic partnership, the President noted that all agreements covered by the contract will be concluded. "At a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, which will be held tomorrow, the work to establish agreements will be undertaken", - said Khadjimba.