National Bank claims Georgia has one of best monetary policies in region
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, May 22
President of the National Bank of Georgia Giorgi Kadagidze does not expect the national currency to depreciate further in the mid-term period.
Giorgi Kadagidze made this comment after holding a meeting with the head of the financial-budgetary committee Tamaz Mechiauri, together with Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri, Regional Development Minister Nodar Javakhishvili and business ombudsman Giorgi Gakharia.
According to Kadagidze, the GEL has recently gained value because of several significant factors. Kadagidze stressed that the tourist season is likely to impact positively on the Lari course that has lost 32% of its value against the dollar since November 2014.
Meanwhile, Deputy Head of the National Bank of Georgia Archil Mestvirishvili presented the bank’s annual report to lawmakers.
Mestvirishvili stressed that the National Bank of Georgia met all the challenges and shocks appropriately and that Georgia enjoys one of the best monetary policies in the region.
Mestvirishvili explained that serious interventions from the National Bank to the Lari rate would have solved problems temporarily and would have affected the situation in the long term perspective.
“The National Bank is not a political entity to make such steps to regulate situations only for a short period of time. We anticipate long term perspectives,” Mestvirishvili said.
He also stressed that various negative statements made towards the National Bank of Georgia only causes negative effects on the state economy and the Lari exchange course.
In response head of the Human Rights Committee of Parliament Eka Beselia stated that the National Bank of Georgia should have taken more active steps in order to avoid loads of negative consequences imposed by the Lari devaluation to ordinary citizens.
“I hope the GEL will continue gaining value and I think the ongoing processes in the country will facilitate this,” Georgia’s Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri said.
“A business meeting was held with the head of the financial-budgetary committee. We have discussed the GEL exchange rate tendencies. We hope the GEL will continue to stabilize. The budget will not influence the exchange rate,” Khaduri stated.
In the coming days Kadagidze will also have to answer to the lawmakers’ questions. Part of the majority believes that the activities of the National Bank have led to large-scaled devaluation.
In contrast, the opposition claims that the current Government’s unreasonable policy and belated actions are more responsible for the negative economic tendencies.
