Basis Bank ended January with a profit of 8 million

At the moment, up to 996 people are employed in MFO "Crystal", which is also waiting for a banking license, and 804 (H1/2024 – 750) are employed in MFO "Rico", which is represented by the largest chain across the country, with 62 service centers. The second is "Crystal", with 48 service branches."Leader Credit" serves clients with 48 branches and another MFO with high coverage, "Creditservice+", with 51 service centers on the market.More than half of credit investments fall on the 2 largest players in the market. Staff cost for  558 million personnel amounts to 103. 5 million. Of this, 28.1 million are "Rico's" expenses. "Crystal's" expenses in 9 months totals to GEL 28.1 million.

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MBC's lending has increased by 15.3% annually, revenues by 15.8%. MFO ended the first 9 months of 2024 with a profit of Gel 3 million.MBC's net profit has increased 3 times, personnel expenses by 1.3 times. MFO has announced a reduction in lending rates. After the transformation into a bank, when the opportunity arises, it will directly attract GEL resources from the National Bank of Georgia, without the intermediary of a bank.According to Gia Petriashvili, MBC General Director, MFO worked with a minimal margin, 7-8 percentage points lower than a commercial bank. Despite the fact that the microfinance market is riskier than banking.At the moment, MBC issues unsecured loans up to 20,000 GEL at an annual interest rate of 25-35%, and secured loans (auto/pharmacy/business/agriculture/startup) at 20-27%.According to Petriashvili, despite the desire, it is not possible to offer a lower loan rate than the bank due to the high cost of the resource. On the one hand, the bank provides credit resources to MFO, and on the other hand, it directly competes in the microcredit market. So it is already a microbank and must overcome the competition, little by little. Already on a more or less equal starting position with the bank, MBC Risk Director Nino Devdariani, who is also a microfinance lobbyist (a member of the board of the Microfinance Association), finds it difficult to predict to what level the loan interest rate will fall, whether it will exceed the 22% threshold. Along with macroeconomic indicators and the refinancing rate, this depends on many parameters.

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The National Bank of Georgia first announced on November 25 that it would start replenishing reserves after spending in September-October, and then in the parliament, Acting President Natia Turnava announced the purchase of $124 million in November, where she presented the main directions of monetary and monetary policy for the next 3 years.As of 01.12.2024, the country's reserve assets are $4.124 billion. Including $608 million in gold (01.11. 2024 - $627.4 million). The decrease in value is likely due to revaluation. Investment gold is intact, although its sale is not restricted.

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As of the document, equity amounted to USD 131.2 million in Q3 2024, which is 66.4 percent of the total foreign direct investment. The volume of reinvestment totaling USD 358.4 million, 13.6 percent down than the adjusted data of the previous year.The Netherlands reaching USD 60.2 million in Q3 2024 (30.4 percent) was the major foreign direct investor country. Malta was the second with USD 58.3 million (29.5 percent), followed by the United Kingdom with USD 55.0 million (27.8 percent). The share of the 3 largest investor countries is 87.7 percent of the total investment.The largest share of FDI was registered in the manufacturing sector, reaching USD 63.6 million (32.2 percent) in Q3 2024, energy sector was the second with USD 43.0 million (21.8 percent), followed by the trade sector with USD 32.1 million (16.2 percent). The share of the 3 largest sectors is 70.2 percent of the total investment.

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"We believe that with your support Georgians will overcome and our common European future will unite us!" - writes the President.

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According to Natia Turnava, First Vice President of the National Bank of Georgia, microbanking institutions will increase competition in the financial sector. "There is a good opportunity to issue more banking products to micro businesses."JSC "Micro Business Capital" operated under the license of a microfinance organization before receiving the microbank license, its main business direction was financing small entrepreneurs, which was the main determinant for receiving a microbank license.A business wishing to transform into a bank must be a financier, and not a pawnbroker, as RICO (the largest) and others are.JSC "Micro Business Capital" will continue to actively finance small businesses and will also be strengthened by joining the real-time settlement system (RTGS).

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The change was mainly due to a 4.4 percent increase in the average monthly nominal wages of employees in the construction sector, which contributed 0.7 percentage points to the total index change.Compared to October 2023 the CCI increased by 6.8 percent. The latter was largely caused by the 31.5 percent increase in average monthly nominal wages of employees in the construction sector and by the 3.2 percent increase in the prices of construction materials, which contributed 5.07 and 1.96 percentage points to the total index change, respectively.Along with this, the Construction Cost Index posted a 20.1 percent increase compared to February 2022.

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“These are peaceful protests involving families and children”, she told the Georgian Public Broadcaster, citing her observations of the rallies as “unique in their lack of violence or vandalism”.The official also said Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze “must resign” for “failed crisis management”, adding “a PM who cannot navigate through a crisis, seeks no political compromise, and resorts only to intimidation must be replaced”.Zourabichvili said once the PM resigned, she would annonce an election rerun within two weeks.The official, whose term expires this month with the new Presidential elections scheduled for December 14, highlighted the necessity for dialogue to “determine the framework” of the new parliamentary elections, claiming the approach represented “compromise, depolarisation, and stability, paving the way for a peaceful and democratic future for the nation”.The President further expressed concerns over the use of fireworks and pyrotechnics by demonstrators against the law enforcement, acknowledging safety risks but asserting “this is not the real issue”.She pointed instead to the presence of police forces in metro stations and residential areas, describing their actions as “intimidation against citizens”.Zourabichvili further defended her decision to engage directly with protesters, dismissing criticism over her attendance at demonstrations.“I stood with my people, I went to ask law enforcement why they were acting against citizens instead of protecting them”, she said.Addressing claims by Kobakhidze that the protests had been “brought under control” following seizures of fireworks and other items from opposition party offices in Tbilisi this week, the President dismissed them as “propaganda”, arguing that citizens' peaceful demands should have been respected from the outset.The President also reiterated her stance on the legitimacy of the Parliament after what she has described as “rigged” October elections, maintaining that an “illegitimate Parliament cannot elect a legitimate President” following the end of her term, and urging the public to “remain patient” for her forthcoming clarification on the issue.The President also claimed she “firmly stood” by Georgia’s “future as a democratic, independent nation”, adding “I will not apologise to nor compromise on our sovereignty”, in reference to  ruling party officials offering an apology to those in the Russian-occupied regions of the country, following the Government’s claims that the previous United National Movement Government had incited the 2008 Russia-Georgia war”. 

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