Minister of Economy offers back-up plan
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, March 24
Vice-Premier and the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that Georgia’s national currency is less likely to return to its initial position against dollar, when 1 USD was worth 1.75 GEL.
The minister spoke about the issue to Kviris Palitra newspaper.
The minister said that the exchange rate of the lari against the dollar might become more stable this summer.
“Much depends on the activities of the National Bank of Georgia, it should decide which actions to take in order not to mitigate inflation – leave the current rate, or take other actions,” Kvirikashvili said.
He explained that the situation also depends on the development of the political situation in the country and abroad, especially trade-partner states.
Kvirikashvili also spoke about the government’s three-part plan through which the first phase would stabilize the currency-related issues.
In this regard, the minister claimed that the government was working hard on the state property privatization issues, through which last year the country received 100 million GEL income.
According to Kvirikashvili, the country has prepared a lot of objects for privatization, which are highly attractive to foreign companies.
“We have doubled our effort. If privatization fails, the government also has a backup plan, which includes the increase of tourism, and bringing more foreign currency by sponsoring donors,” the minister said.
It should be noted that Georgia’s national currency has depreciated greatly since November 20, 2014.
In order to overcome the crisis, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development has developed a three-part plan that extends through 2017.
The lari exchange rate to the dollar is 2.22 today.
The opposition United National Movement and the Free Democrats claim that the current government of Georgia has failed miserably to overcome the current economic crisis, and stresses that the government must step down.
