NBG must retain supervision function
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Wednesday, June 1
“The supervisory function of other banking institutions in Georgia should be left to the National Bank of Georgia (NBG),” Georgia’s Minister of Economy Dimitri Kumsishvili stated yesterday.
In July 2015 the Parliamentary majority voted for the separation.
“Leaving the supervisory function to the NBG should be discussed by the Constitutional Court. I have my own position regarding this topic. The function must be left to NBG,” stated Kumsishvili.
The law of Banking Supervision, which means the separation of the Financial Supervisory Service from NBG, was appealed to the Constitutional Court of Georgia by opposition deputies.
The position of Kumsishvili is shared by member of the Georgian Dream (GD) Tamaz Metchiauri.
“After changing the ruling force in NBG (meaning former NBG president Giorgi Kadagidze) there is no necessity for separation, since the ex-president is not a political figure,” stressed Metchiauri.
Member of the Free Democrats Davit Onoprishvili stated that members of government changed their position to shift attention from government economic failures.
“By accepting changes in the law, they wanted to misdirect attention from their own failures in the economy and the financial field. They just wanted to put blame of the lari’s devaluation on the NBG. Due to these reasons they clearly made an inappropriate decision,” stated Onoprishvili.
The Parliament of Georgia passed a bill which removed the supervisory function from the NBG on July 17, 2015.
The bill was criticized by the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili. According to him, there was no proper reason provided by legislators that would explain why this change was actually needed.
However, Margvelashvili signed the draft law anyway, as in this case it would be signed by the Parliament chair and it came in to effect in October 2015.
Ex-President of the NBG Giorgi Kadagidze was also against the separation of the supervisory service from the NBG.
According to Kadagidze, approval of the draft-bill threatened the NBG’s independence. Kadagidze claimed that intimidation and weakening of the bank is a serious danger to the banking sector and economy.
Kadagidze’s replacement was appointed in March this year.
The United National Movement opposition party claims that the stir over the separation was because of Kadagidze and the current statements of the Georgian Dream officials indicate towards this.
