Kaladze instructs all services to inspect the completed works in the city

"It is not appropriate to cancel pension loans for pensioners - in one month you may face the same situation - what will we do next?" - Are we covering that too?" said the deputy minister.According to him, the cancellation of pension loans is not included in the first version of next year's budget."When we talk about canceling the debts of pensioners, in this case, what are we doing, canceling the pension loan in the future? Let's say we borrow 400 million for something else and pay for pension loans, what will we do next? If tomorrow, instead of 360,000, 800,000 pensioners take a loan, do we forbid taking a loan or cover it later? What is our approach? If there is a product and the use of that product continues tomorrow, in this case, paying for it from the budget is not the right decision, because you may automatically face the same situation in a month. Therefore, I don't think that now 400 million, which would be 30 GEL if the pension were to be increased annually, should be used to pay off part of the pensioners' debt. In the next year's budget, a similar amount is not included in the first version. "We cannot pay 400 million in the circumstances that will arise tomorrow," Kakauridze said.

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The turnover of the national currency amounts to  9.6 billion GEL. The equivalent of 5 billion GEL in foreign currency was withdrawn from the current currency accounts.Up to 80% of the foreign exchange turnover, 3.99 billion GEL, accounts for USD.The turnover of non-residents in August is mainly in USD from 1.85 billion GEL to 1.4 billion equivalent in USD.As of 01.09.2023, there are 24.888 billion GEL deposits of non-residents and natural persons of Georgian citizens in the banking sector (current accounts, demand and term deposits).

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Omiadze said the role of the industry in the Georgian economy was growing “significantly” from year to year.“In six months, our country received an income of $1,804,529,935 from international tourism, which is a recovery of 123.9 percent of the same figure of [pre-pandemic] 2019. Compared to 2022, the revenues from international tourism have increased by $661,999,720”, she said.Omiadze also noted World Tourism Day would be celebrated in Georgia next year with the host status for the country.“All 38 countries of the Commission for Europe of the United Nations’ World Tourism Organisation have chosen Georgia as the host country for next year’s World Tourism Day. High-ranking guests will visit Georgia next year. This will be a large-scale event, where the investment and tourism potential of our country will be presented in a dignified manner”, Omiadze said.The head of the tourism body added her office would continue to diversify tourist markets in Georgia, benefit from new markets and attract “high-spending” visitors. 

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Acceptance of proposals in the tender ended on September 26 and is currently in the selection/evaluation stage.The tender had three candidates. These are:· LLC Volt - with an offer of 2.8 million GEL;· Orient Logic - with an offer of 2.4 million GEL;· QWERTY US LLC – with an offer of 2.3 million GEL.Since "QWERTY US" bid is the lowest, it is the favorite in this tender.According to the documentation, the service delivery period is defined as 24 months.According to the tender requirements, the contractor must follow Agile Scrum development methodology.When implementing the system, it is necessary to use a DevOps approach, in particular, to build CI/CD pipelines between the relevant branches and environments in order to automatically deliver new releases to the customer.From 2020 until today, the bidder must have completed work of a similar content, with a total value of 2.5 million GEL.In addition, the candidate is required to have qualified programmers.No information on the winning tenders of "QWERTY US LLC" can be found on the website of the State Procurement Agency. Also, there is no information on the website of the public registry agency with the mentioned name.

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MREL is part of the defense mechanism of the sector in a stressed situation. It gives the NBG the discretion to take the bank's raised funds into the capital.Funds to be used for this purpose, i.e., convertible resources, are "allowed liabilities", which include funds borrowed from financial institutions (eg: EBRD, IFC...), etc. bonds.The ratio of liabilities and capital instruments of this category to regulatory capital and total liabilities (MREL rate) is set at 10% from 01.01.2024.Other banks can maintain the mentioned ratio, although it is not mandatory.The delay in the current issues in the NBG is related to the recent changes. The board of vice-presidents who have left the bank's board are transferable.Despite the fact that the 3 retired vice-presidents will continue their activities until the end of November, none of them is going to actively participate in the processes. With additional clarifications, they specify only that the motive of their move was not political and was due to purely professional activities.After leaving the board, the vice-president’s salary is maintained for 6 months, and the board membership allowance is removed.The remuneration of vice-presidents, according to the property declaration, varies between 18,000-19,000 GEL, where the salary of a board member is in the range of >GEL6,000.

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However, the market absorbed only USD 7.6 million and thus removed more than GEL 20 million from circulation.In total, during the last 3 auctions, the NBG removed more than GEL 170 million from circulation. In the last trade, the exchange rate decreased to $1 - GEL2.6682.At the end of last week, the central bank first sold 20 million for USD 1 at GEL 2.6841; At the next auction, the rate rose to 2.6884, and it sold for only USD 37.2 million from the USD 50 million bid.In September, the mass of national currency in circulation increased and exceeded 5.7 billion GEL. The country's reserves decreased by USD 64.8 million through foreign exchange auctions

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In January-August of this year, foreign currency reserves of the country were replenished by $1.464 billion with foreign currency purchases on Bloomberg. In September, the bank spent 64.7 million.The NBG had to sell the currency before September 20, even at the beginning of June. 40 million at the auction. USD was withdrawn and the market absorbed only USD 17.1 million. Then the weighted average exchange rate was 2.6330. At the last auction on September 25, the dollar was sold at the rate of USD 1/GEL 26682.As stated by the NBG, the central bank engages in interbank trading when the exchange rate ($/GEL) begins to fluctuate, in the direction of depreciation or strengthening. If it moves towards depreciation, the NBG sells the US dollar, if the GEL tends to strengthen, then it buys.The regulator intervenes in the foreign exchange market in such a way (when it balances, it reduces excess volatility) that the medium and long-term stability of the exchange rate is not threatened.Excess is noted when there is a large transaction in the market compared to its volume or there is a temporary lack of liquidity.In addition, the asymmetry of the influence of currency interventions should be taken into account. The intervention is more effective when the GEL is solid.

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The construction of White Sails complex started in 2016. The amount of investment is quite impressive – up to 60 million US dollars. The complex was designed by the BWC Project Group architectural company, which has more than 10 years of experience in this field."Our complex is designed for maximum comfort, and it was important for us to design a product that would improve living standards. AR Meridians and Basisbank have been going strong as partners for years. The financial support of Basisbank allowed us to complete the complex in a short period of time and transfer ownership of the apartments to their owners. During the crisis, when we needed the support of a strong financial institution, Basisbank was one of the first to stand by us and provide us with a credit line. Our mutual cooperation has produced a unique project, which in terms of infrastructure has no equivalents anywhere else in Adjara,” Natia Gogidze, Director of AR Meridians, said."White Sails is a successful project of Basisbank. We are pleased to have been involved as a financial partner. White Sails boasts a refined architecture with modern conveniences and delicate touches, and comfortable infrastructure that allows vacationers to enjoy full services on the spot. Our cooperation has developed successfully and we will always remain a reliable financial partner to White Sails.” Jaba Kasradze, Head of Basisbank’s Lending Department, said.Video story of partnership between Basisbank and White Sails 

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