PM Vano Merabishvili said on July 31 that the government would submit for confirmation planned four-year GEL 1,000 voucher program to newly elected Parliament in October.

The state-funded four-year GEL 1,000 voucher for every family is part of the government’s new four-year program, which ruling United National Movement party’s campaigning is largely based on ahead of the October parliamentary elections.

“This [program] will be confirmed by the new Parliament as soon as it is convened,” PM Merabishvili said in televised remarks while visiting one of the families in the town of Rustavi.

According to a brief press release by PM’s office the plan is to make four-year GEL 1,000 vouchers effective starting from January, 2013. According to this plan, each household in the country will be able to use GEL 250 annually within four years. There will be set of services for which the sum from voucher can be used, involving paying utility fees; buying textbooks for schoolchildren; buying medicines; fuel and agriculture fertilizers. “It will be up to a family itself to decide how to use the voucher,” the government’s press release said.

In February, 2012 government allocated GEL 20 vouchers to each households to pay their electricity bills. At the time the government said that vouchers were distributed to total of 1.2 million households across the country.

This figure of households means that if government’s pledge about GEL 1,000 voucher stands, the state budget will have to allocate about GEL 1.2 billion (about USD 729.5 million) in next four years for that purpose, or GEL 300 million annually.