AKIPRESS.COM - Giorgi Kvirikashvili, prime minister of Georgia, has announced his resignation amid a disagreement with Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the ruling party, Al Jazeera reported.

"We've had some disagreements with the leader of the ruling party. I think this is the moment now when the leader of the party should be given an opportunity to form a new cabinet," Kvirikashvili said in a televised statement on Wednesday.

Kvirikashvili, 50, has been the country's prime minister since 2015.

The prime minister's resignation comes amid growing popular discontent over his government's handling of the economy and after mass protests in recent months.

Under the Georgian constitution, a prime minister's resignation leads to the resignation of the entire cabinet.

The ruling party, Georgian Dream, has seven days to nominate a prime minister who will be appointed by the country's largely figurehead president.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili then has a further seven days to submit the new cabinet to parliament for approval.