IMF backs Georgia’s national currency stabilization efforts
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
Georgian Economy Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili met with a mission of the International Monetary Fund.
The specific actions of the Georgian government and economic processes in the country, in particular, the lari rate depreciation, were the main issues mulled at the meeting, the Georgian Economy Ministry told Trend.
Georgian Deputy Economy Ministers Mikheil Janelidze and Irma Kavtaradze attended the meeting.
"Together with the IMF mission, we discussed the situation and the actions conducted by the government to balance the currency imbalance and to direct the exchange rate towards stabilization,” the minister said. “We can say that the IMF representatives have approved all these actions.”
Kvirikashvili said that both short-term and medium-term measures, as well as the concrete actions towards privatization and tourism were discussed at the meeting.
"They also discussed the legislative initiatives to promote investments,” Kvirikashvili said following the meeting. “They will be announced soon. The sides talked about reducing the administrative costs. The meeting was very fruitful. I think we must wait for real stabilization of the situation. We have every reason for this.”
The lari rate versus the dollar rate has begun declining actively since November 20, 2014. As of the recent trading, the rate was set at 2.2619 lari/ $ 1. Until that time, Georgia’s national currency was set at the level of 1.74 – 1.76 lari / $ 1.
The National Bank began tightening the monetary policy in February in connection with the expected rise in prices in Georgia due to the depreciation of the national currency.
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