The panel also featured Aleš Michl, Governor of the Czech National Bank, and Zoltán Kurali, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Hungary.During the session, the panelists examined the impact of geopolitical developments on central bank operations, monetary policy implementation, and international reserve management. Key focal points included reserve diversification strategies, emerging trends in stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI).As part of her working visit to London, Vice-Governor Jeladze also held bilateral meetings with representatives from various European central banks. Discussions centered on opportunities to enhance professional cooperation across central banks, current challenges in banking supervision and regulatory frameworks, and the practical application of emerging technologies, notably AI.The Central Banking Annual Meetings convene representatives from central banks, international financial institutions, and the broader financial sector. The event stands as a premier international platform for exchanging professional expertise and deliberating on pressing industry topics.

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In May, annual inflation stood at 5.7 percent. The increase in inflation relative to the 3 percent target was mainly driven by a significant increase in energy resources prices. These inflationary pressures mainly reflect external factors, including elevated volatility in international energy prices and supply-side disruptions. At the same time, measures of relatively sticky prices, which better reflect long-term inflation expectations, have shown a slight acceleration in the recent period. In particular, core inflation (excluding food, energy and tobacco) stood at 3.5 percent in May, while services inflation was 3.8 percent. Although these indicators remain significantly below headline inflation, their recent dynamics continue to point to risks of strengthening second-round effects. On the other hand, international commodity markets have recently experienced a notable correction in energy prices. Amid growing optimism regarding the prospect of a peace agreement between the US and Iran, international oil prices have declined significantly from their peak levels. This is consistent with the NBG’s central scenario. In particular, the central scenario assumed that strong pressure on inflation caused by the external shock would occur in the second quarter of this year, after which its impact would gradually ease. Therefore, according to the central scenario, inflation will continue its downward tendency from the second quarter of 2026 and will average 4.9 percent in 2026, and will gradually return to the target in the medium term.Economic activity remains strong. The economy grew by 6.2 percent in April 2026, while average growth in the first four months of the year reached 8.3 percent. Notably, high-productive sectors remain a key driver of economic growth, partially offsetting demand-side inflationary pressures.Global uncertainty remains elevated. The main sources of this uncertainty remain the further evolution of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, developments in international energy prices, and the timeline for the restoration of damaged infrastructure. Therefore, the MPC, in addition to the central scenario, considered both high and low-inflation risk scenarios.In the event of the realization of the high-inflation risk scenario, fundamental processes require a higher trajectory of the monetary policy rate than the central scenario. The high-inflation scenario assumes a further escalation of geopolitical tension over a prolonged period, which would result in additional damage to infrastructure and a delay in the recovery process. Against this backdrop, commodity prices in the international market will increase further and the disruption of supply chains will become widespread. As a result, the supply-side inflationary shock would amplify in Georgia, strengthening second-round effects, and ultimately inflation would be higher than in the central scenario.On the other hand, under the low-inflation risk scenario considered by the MPC, the realization of the risks would allow a faster normalization of monetary policy rate compared to the central scenario. The low-inflation risk scenario assumes that a peace agreement in the Middle East would lead to an immediate stabilization of prices at international commodity markets. In such a case, pressures on energy prices would ease rapidly, which would be reflected in lower domestic inflation. At the same time, Georgia’s external position remains robust. Despite the significant external shock, FX inflows continue to be strong, while the country’s sovereign risk premium remains low, supporting the stability of the real effective exchange rate. Moreover, the continued relative weakness of the U.S. dollar in global markets serves as an additional supportive factor. If these conditions persist, imported goods inflation is likely to be lower than expected, and, as a result, headline inflation will converge to the target more rapidly than in the central scenario.As a result of the ongoing macroeconomic analysis and consideration of existing risks, the MPC considered it appropriate to keep the monetary policy rate unchanged at 8.25 percent. The NBG continues to closely monitor ongoing developments and the intensity of their transmission to the domestic market. If inflationary shocks stemming from geopolitical tensions become even more prolonged and/or their magnitude would amplify the risks of second-round effects, the MPC will continue to moderately increase the monetary policy rate. Thereafter, once the inflationary shock dissipates, the NBG will begin a gradual normalization of the policy stance.The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee will be held on July 29, 2026.

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თბილისი (GBC) - Visa (NYSE: V) today announced a strategic collaboration with OpenAI to enable secure Visa payments within agentic commerce, enabling seamless and trusted payments across OpenAI platforms. The companies made the announcement at the Visa Payments Forum in San Francisco. Through the partnership, Visa will provide its global network, credentialing capabilities and security infrastructure to support agentic commerce experiences, helping consumers and businesses interact and transact with confidence.The collaboration is part of the broader Visa Intelligent Commerce initiative, which is focused on extending secure payment capabilities into new digital environments. Together, Visa and OpenAI will also explore a range of enterprise applications, including developer-focused experiences powered by Codex, as well as more automated and conversational workflows, as AI continues to evolve as an important interface for digital interactions.As part of the partnership, Visa’s payment capabilities will be integrated into OpenAI experiences giving developers and merchants a streamlined way to accept Visa payments initiated by agents. Alongside OpenAI, Visa will deliver the underlying network, tokenization and risk capabilities that support trusted and secure transactions.Transactions will operate within clearly defined user permissions, policies, and controls, such as spending limits, merchant categories, or required approvals. Transactions will use tokenized Visa credentials and real-time authorization and fraud monitoring, helping enable new AI-enabled payment experiences to maintain strong security and consumer protection.“AI will transform commerce more profoundly than the internet or mobile technology ever did,” said Jack Forestell, Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Visa. “As AI agents become active participants in the economy, Visa’s focus is to ensure transactions are trusted, secure and seamless. That’s the infrastructure we’re building with partners like OpenAI.”"Commerce is going to happen in many more places and in many more ways than it does today, and agents will play an increasingly important role in helping people complete tasks that involve money—from purchases and payments to more complex transactions,” said Marco Mahrus, Head of Partnerships, Commerce at OpenAI. “By integrating with Visa Intelligent Commerce, we're building the infrastructure for secure, transparent, and user-controlled agentic transactions, helping people do more with AI agents while maintaining confidence that payments are being handled safely and securely." 

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The relevant decision was made by the Financial Stability Committee of the National Bank of Georgia in May, which was officially confirmed by the order of the President of the National Bank of Georgia on June 15. The aforementioned change invalidates the order of July 2025, which set the mandatory larization limit at 750,000 GEL. With the new regulation, this mark increases to 1 million GEL.According to the new rule, citizens and companies whose income is in GEL will no longer be able to take out loans of up to 1 million GEL in foreign currency. In addition, the National Bank specifies that any credit that is in any way tied to or indexed to a foreign currency will not be considered issued in GEL. The regulation also applies to guarantees of an individual, and in certain cases, to obligations arising from bank guarantees and letters of credit.According to the National Bank, the restriction will not apply to several exceptional cases, namely: If, as a result of the issuance of a loan, the borrower’s total liabilities to a specific bank or microfinance organization exceed GEL 1 million; If the borrower is not a citizen of Georgia or is a legal entity not registered in Georgia; If the loan is fully secured by a deposit/cash in the same foreign currency; If the borrower receives sufficient income in the relevant foreign currency to service the loan; If an existing loan is refinanced or restructured in the same currency and the amount of the obligation does not increase. The change will enter into force on July 1, 2026 and its purpose is to reduce currency risks in the financial sector and support the process of larization of the economy.

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The largest amount - $64 million - was transferred from the USA, with an annual increase of 8%. For the same period last year, the annual increase in cash flows from the USA exceeded 23%.There is also a decrease from the European Union, the annual increase is up to 6% (L/Y + 17.3%Y.Y). In May 2025, the growth was more than 17%.As of 01.06.2026, the USA is still leading the donor countries ranking with a 19% share, although with a yearly trend of +3.038%Y.Y. China is ahead by a large margin, whose share in total remittances is still modest - 0.7%.

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In her speech, Ekaterine Mikabadze highlighted the importance of capital market development, noting that the emergence of new issuers demonstrates the growing role of the capital market in enabling companies to attract long-term financing. She noted that this trend, on the one hand, creates additional funding opportunities for businesses, while on the other hand, provides investors with a wider range of investment instruments.She also emphasized the expansion of sectoral representation in the local bond market, noting that Nutrimax is the first company from the animal feed production sector to issue public bonds. According to her, it is important that the capital market is increasingly contributing to the development of local production and various sectors of the economy.Ekaterine Mikabadze also reviewed developments in the corporate bond market, noting that 2025 was a record year in terms of issuance volume. Furthermore, during the January–May period of the current year, including the Nutrimax issuance, the total volume of corporate bonds publicly issued by five issuers amounted to GEL 330 million, representing a significantly higher level compared to the same period last year.“The entry of new companies into the market demonstrates the growing importance of the capital market in helping companies attract financial resources. At the same time, it contributes to the creation of more diverse investment opportunities for investors,” said Ekaterine Mikabadze.The bonds issued by Nutrimax, with a total value of USD 10 million, have a two-year maturity. The proceeds from the issuance will be used by the company to refinance existing liabilities and finance capital expenditures. The securities will be admitted to trading and listing on the trading system of JSC Tbilisi Stock Exchange.Nutrimax has been operating in the Georgian market since 2009 and is one of the leading producers of feed for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture. The company operates in both local and international markets.

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According to the official conditions, 25% of the shares will vest in each of the second, third, fourth and fifth years following the work year, subject to the terms of his service agreementAs a reminder, on January 6 of this year, Irakli Gilauri received another 190,907 free options for work performed in 2025 within the framework of the same program.According to the statement made by the Chairman of the GCAP Compensation Committee, Neil Janini, last summer, according to their call, after Gilauri sells his shares and grants the 2025 salary shares, he should have approximately 2.7 million shares.

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Lion Finance Group (BGEO LN) shares closed at GBP 110.50/share (+4.74% w/w and +3.95% m/m). More than 209k shares traded in the range of GBP 100.90 - 111.00/share. Average daily traded volume was 55k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of BGEO shares traded was at 0.48% of its capitalization.TBC Bank Group (TBCG LN) closed the week at GBP 45.32/share (+3.52% w/w and +3.19% m/m). More than 215k shares changed hands in the range of GBP 42.06 - 45.76/share. Average daily traded volume was 65k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of TBCG shares traded was at 0.39% of its capitalization.Georgia Capital (CGEO LN) shares closed at GBP 42.35/share (+6.68% w/w and +10.43% m/m). More than 171k shares traded in the range of GBP 38.90 - 42.35/share. Average daily traded volume was 46k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of CGEO shares traded was at 0.50% of its capitalization. 

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Sheri (commercial name "Sheriff Crypto Exchange") is the first and only VASP_ to be fined and suspended, after less than 2 years of operation.Sheri was fined 465,000 by the National Bank of Georgia for several violations, including not monitoring the client's income, not determining the purpose of transactions, and not verifying the origin of the virtual asset of the virtual asset service provider (VASP).The majority of crypto traders choose an exchange platform. Although there are offices, Sheri belonged to this category and, accordingly, served clients at the office (Pekini Ave., Tbilisi) with a cash desk.Digital wallets, also known as VASPs, perform purchase and sale transactions through an operational, so-called hot wallet. There is also a cold, so-called Ledger, which is referred to in fintech circles as a simple wallet. It is digital, but less modernized. Certain procedures are performed manually and selected by a part of the clients who think that it is safer and feels more protected than the latest versions.The regulator imposes the same requirements on cash-based providers, VASPs are required to have software mechanisms for client verification and crypto wallet screening.The Ashkashidzes (founders of Sheriff) are working on converting several digital currencies, including Ethereum and Bitcoin, mainly the digital dollar USDT, into GEL and USD (and vice versa).Currently, 40 Wasp exchanges are registered with the National Bank of Georgia. The latest license was obtained by Vnisi Digital Assets.

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According to Creditinfo, in the last reporting month (May), the credit score of 460 customers decreased. For the first time, the deposit of funds was delayed for a period of more than 1 month.As of 01.06.2026, the leasing portfolio has increased to 879 million GEL.In total, in the Creditinfo database, there are 1.992 million active borrowers (banks, MFOs, SGSs, microbanks...) loan records, and 93.6% - 73.% billion of the total portfolio (GEL 78.8 billion) of banks' investments fall on loans.There are several active companies in the leasing market, mainly subsidiaries of banks: TBC Leasing, BB Leasing, Teraleasing, Crystal, Alliance Group. There is also a large automotive group, Tegeta Leasing.

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