Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti municipalities have spent 1 million 435 000 GEL for funding of religious organizations from January 2017 to February 2019.
For comparison: Total amount of money paid by municipalities in 2014-2016 amounted to 1 million 268 000 GEL. Only the Orthodox Church turned out to be the recipient of the aid. Most of the funds were spent on rehabilitation of churches and educational buildings, as well as communal expenditures.
NGO "Transparency International Georgia" has studied the costs."From January 1 to March 2019, more than a million 400 thousand GEL have been issued by 9 municipalities for religious organizations. Like in the previous period, they have helped only the Orthodox Church. Most of this money is spent on building repair works, in some cases on the restoration of the church.