Tbilisi (GBC) - The President of the National Bank of Georgia met with the International Monetary Fund mission.
Natia Turnava briefed on the current situation in the country in terms of macroeconomic and financial stability to the members of the IMF mission, led by Alejandro Hajdenberg.
According to the President of the NBG, the National Bank remains committed to the existing monetary policy framework, within which the central bank successfully ensures price stability.
The International Monetary Fund mission, which is being carried out within the framework of consultations provided for in Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement (“Article Four Consultations”), began its work in Georgia on Wednesday.
The mission aims to provide the IMF with a review of the current macroeconomic situation in Georgia, as well as the country’s fiscal and monetary policies.
The meeting held at the National Bank was also attended by Vice Presidents of the National Bank of Georgia Ekaterine Mikabadze, Ekaterine Galdava and Nino Jeladze. IMF Resident Representative in Georgia Andrew Jewell and heads of NBG departments.
In the coming days, the IMF mission will hold working meetings with the Macroeconomics and Statistics, Financial Stability, Financial Markets, Specialized Risks and other departments of the National Bank.
At the end of the visit, the mission will hold a summary meeting with the President of the National Bank Natia Turnava and representatives of the ministries of economic profile.
The President of the NBG stated about the absence of disagreements with the IMF last week, when presenting the annual report to the parliament. He considered that the open issues have been exhausted and nothing prevents the discussion of further cooperation.
As you remember, the IMF’s suspended $280 million program was tied to obligations to be fulfilled within 36 months.
The fund had questions about the introduction of the post of First Vice President of the National Bank, which draft was vetoed by President Zurabishvili.
This was in February 2023, and in June the parliament returned to the issue (similar to Russian law, although the difference was in the time interval of 1 year and half a year). The veto was overcome and Turnava became First Vice President.
Added to this was Turnava’s adoption of an exceptional rule on the implementation of international sanctions, which opponents of the government linked to the sanctioning of Partskhaladze.
Third, there was the issue of state-owned enterprise reform.
