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
May
27
In the last two weeks lari depreciated, once again, against the US dollar. Georgian currency lost about eight tetri against its American counterpart, causing quite a stir in the media, among political groups and economic experts. While government authorities claimed that the recent developments are short-term fluctuations driven by negative expectations, Turkish lira depreciation, dollar’s global strengthening, and are therefore not connected to the fundamentals of the Georgian economy, the members of opposition were quick to blame incompetent fiscal and...
Oct
25
The Georgian lari’s depreciation against the dollar has been a pressing issue for everyone: economists and policymakers, students, housewives and even the good-for-nothing “birzhavik’s”.
The weaker lari may be good news for Georgia’s export competitiveness and trade balance, yet it also pushes up the prices of anything we import. This may include some luxury items we can do without, but also many things that are absolutely essential for the Georgian economy: primary commodities, production inputs and machinery, foodstuffs and medicines. And by raising th...
Recent Comments
Interesting, thank you. However, perhaps it should be stated very clearly: if you earn your income in lari, borrowing in dollars m... Read More
Sunday, 25 October 2015 8:08 PM
Yes, I agree with Stephan that borrowing in foreign currency is ultimately a gamble.But agree with Giorgi that this may be a gambl... Read More
Monday, 26 October 2015 9:09 AM
Sep
14
It is easy to understand what it means for an economy to be weak or strong. We know that a strong economy is characterized by low unemployment and high growth rates. Other desirable traits are, for example, low levels of poverty and income inequality, when all citizens enjoy reasonable standards of living.
Things are less clear when we think about our national currencies.
When designating currencies as “weak” or “strong”, we usually think of the exchange rate against the dollar or the euro. Having a “weak” currency sounds like a bad thing, wh...
Recent Comments
Good article. I wonder if dollarization (or euroization) might be the way forward, either by completely replacing the lari in circ... Read More
Tuesday, 15 September 2015 2:02 PM
As far as currency is concerned I am of the opinion that adopting either USD or Euro may not have clear advantages for Georgia. Th... Read More
Tuesday, 15 September 2015 6:06 PM
I agree with Yasya that it wouldn't be the most advantageous. To add to the argument, I interviewed Matthias Matthijs of Johns Hop... Read More
Wednesday, 16 September 2015 10:10 AM
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