On 15 July 2016, on air on Ajara TV, the Member of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic Ajara, Davit Batsikadze, stated that the number of those employed in the Supreme Council of Ajara and their wage fund has been decreased.

took interest in the accuracy of this statement.

According to the official data of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, a total of 90 people were employed in the Supreme Council in 2010 and about GEL 1.88 million was allocated for the wage fund. The number of employees as well as their wage fund grew over the following years.

 Number of People Employed in the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara and their Remuneration from 2010 to 2016

It should be noted that the trend of growth of the number of employees of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara as well as their wage fund was quite noticeable under the previous government as well; however, the number of those employed increased by just six people from 2010 to 2012 which means that the average growth rate in the given period was 2.1%. The number of employees from increased by 29 people from 2013 to 2015 which means that the average growth rate went up to 9.2%. As for the growth of the wage fund, wages have been increasing every year since 2011; however, the growth rate dropped dramatically according to the data for 2015 and the forecast data for 2016.

As for the number of people employed in the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, the comparison of the budgets for the past seven years illustrates that the number of those employed in the government had a trend of decrease until 2013 but started to grow once again and was 50% more in 2016 than in 2012 (see Table 2). The same table also shows that the wage fund is increasing every year and is 28% more in 2016 as compared to 2012.

Number of People Employed in the Autonomous Republic of Ajara and the Annual Wage Fund from 2009 to 2016

We contacted Davit Batsikadze in order to get more detailed information and he promised to look into the issue; however, despite numerous attempts, we were unable to contact Mr Batsikadze after this.

According to the official data of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, there has been an increase in both the number of employees and the wage fund in the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic as well as in its government since 2012. A total of 96 people were employed in the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara in 2012 whilst this number reached 125 in 2016. By 2016, the wage fund had increased by almost GEL one million since 2012. The number of those employed in the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara increased by 186 people over the past four years whilst the wage fund has increased by GEL 1.8 million (28%).