YEREVAN, September 23. /ARKA/. Georgia’s government and national bank will take measures to deter the lari from devaluation, if any, but no devaluation is expected now, the National Bank President Georgi Katagidze is quoted by RIA Novosti.
The Georgian national currency took a sharp dive in November 2014. The country’s government revised its economic growth outlook for 2015 downing it from 5% to 2% and unveiled its bailout scheme for attracting foreign investments, but the scheme was slammed by the opposition.
In the beginning of the summer the lari exchange rates stabilized, but the national currency resumed its downward motion in mid-July.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, the finance ministry and the national bank are systematically meeting to discuss the matter.
«We don’t think the pressure on the lary will grow and it will devaluate… If the pressure continues, on the first hand, the national bank will keep pursuing its aggressive monetary policy, on the second hand, the government is willing to cut state spending, if necessary, and, on the third hand, we agree that we need to complete consideration of the monetary fund, since this is a significant positive message for investors,» Kadagidze said in an interview with Rustavi2 TV Company.
He said that forecasts saying that the lari stabilization will continue are not able to drive commodity prices down quickly, since imports dominate Georgia’s market.
«Import is cut by one billion dollars, and unfortunately, it means that our population’s consumption reduced and there is nothing good in that, but, in terms of pressure on the lari exchange rate, we state that the cut has already impacted the national currency, and therefore, if inflow intensify, the lary will take the road of stabilization,» Kadagidze said in his televised interview. –0–
