President presents new candidate of NBG board to Parliament
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, February 17
The President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, has presented the candidacy of Koba Gvenetadze as a board member of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) to Parliament.
It should be noted that the changes in the NBG board became necessary as the authority of Giorgi Kadagidze, the NBG’s head and a member of the board, expires on February 25, 2016.
Before its final approval by Parliament, the candidate will deliver a speech before the Sector Economy and Budget and Finance Committees, which will study his candidacy for a week and if liked, the candidacy will be sent to Parliament for final approval.
“This week, the committees will make a decision which will take the form of a recommendation, which will subsequently be presented to Parliament. I have positive expectations,” stated Tamaz Metchiauri, a member of the Budget and Finance Committee.
President Margvelashvili nominated Gvenetadze from three candidates who were selected and assessed by experts and NGOs.
The non-governmental sector selected the candidates for the membership of the National Bank Board due to the following pre-agreed criteria: professional education, qualification, and political impartiality. The selection procedure included consultations with experts and an electronic scoring process.
The selection process was led by the Head of the Administration of the President of Georgia, Giorgi Abashishvili.
“Koba Gvenetadze is a high-ranking professional who has been working for the International Monetary Fund. He has diverse and extensive experience in the financial and economic sectors. In my opinion, he will be a very strong and worthy member of the NBG board,” said Abashishvili.
According to the President’s Administration, Koba Gvenetadze, who earned his Master of Arts in Economics at the American University, Washington, has been working at Galt and Taggart Company as an economic advisor since November 2015. In 2002-2015 he served as the Senior Economist at the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC, USA.
Between 2001-2002, Gvenetadze held the position of the Deputy State Minister of Georgia, while in 2000-2001 he was the Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia.
During 1996-1998 he also was the Economist of the IMF Resident Representative Office in Georgia and between 1994-1996 he held the position of Chief Economist at the National Bank of Georgia.
