As the Georgian Lari (GEL) briefly depreciated in September 2020, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) once again became the subject of criticism for not being able to stabilize the exchange rate even though it had injected 120 million US$ in the economy. At a press conference (2020/09/16), the President of the NBG objected that the aim of the injection of US$ was not to strengthen the GEL since the NBG operated under a floating exchange rate policy. Rather, he went on to explain, the NBG’s constitutional duty was to ensure price stability on the basis of ...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Nov
02
Jan
31
High and rising levels of foreign currency indebtedness have been an important topic in Georgia over the past several years. To address this issue and protect borrowers from currency risks, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), as well as the Georgian Government have implemented regulations to hinder excess indebtedness. Let’s have a look at the timeline (Figure 1) of recent lending regulations and the accompanying monetary policy measures and observe their impact on changing lending patterns in the Georgian economy.
Figure 1. Timeline of lending regulatio...
Mar
04
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness …
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
A CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD?
The above quote seems to fit the state of affairs in the European Union fairly well, as the EU’s crisis is continuing, getting deeper, and engulfing more actors than when it started. To name a few well-known events and stats: Greece probably had the first ...
Recent Comments
It is convenient to blame the EU for the current rise of nationalism in Europe and whatnot. Nationalism and religious fanaticism a... Read More
Monday, 06 March 2017 9:09 AM
Eric:There was always populism everywhere, even in ancient Rome (Cato said: Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam). What is new... Read More
Tuesday, 07 March 2017 10:10 AM
Nothing will stop people from moving from (extremely) high pressure to (extremely) low pressure areas. Osmosis-style, through bord... Read More
Tuesday, 07 March 2017 11:11 AM
Feb
14
This week, another crazy idea haunted economically faltering Europe. According to the plans of European politicians, the 500 euro note will disappear and cash payments above 5,000 euro will be made illegal. Officially a measure against money laundering, the pretext was correctly debunked by Hans-Werner Sinn in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: the true reasons for this step is to push interest rates further down. Big notes allow to store wealth in cash, and if that is not possible anymore, interest rates can be brought even further into the negative, d...
Recent Comments
The 2008/9 "stimulus" in Australia involved mailing every household in the country a checque for $1000, to stimulate household con... Read More
Sunday, 14 February 2016 7:07 AM
A much simpler (and much needed) intervention would be to: 1) print money; 2) use it to finance investments in European's infrastr... Read More
Sunday, 14 February 2016 8:08 AM
For the helicopter drop you need other party as well. I cannot imagine how the ECB all alone could boost its liability side withou... Read More
Monday, 15 February 2016 1:01 PM
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