Georgia’s national currency dramatically falls

The official exchange rate of Georgia’s national currency against the USD is 2.41 while in last year’s November it was 1.75.

The current government keeps stating that the dramatic decline of the GEL is because of foreign events beyond their control and appeals to public “not to be provoked by the statements of irresponsible politicians and the media”.

“Those who will get involved in the stir will lose more than they gain,” Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said.

The country’s governmental team promises that the situation will become stabilized in the near future through cooperation with the National Bank.

Late on August 25, Gharibashvili held a summarizing meeting with the Vice President of the National Bank and members of the government’s economic team.

According to the Governmental administration, the meeting concerned issues related to the national currency’s exchange rate.

“Some measures were planned and readiness was expressed for tight and coordinated cooperation between the National Bank and state agencies,”- said the Administration.

The opposition United National Movement( UNM) and the Free Democrats ( FD) state that the government tries to find a scape goat as it is incapable to cope with the currency related complications.

“However, pointing fingers to the opposition and the media will not save the Lari nor ease the people’s hard economic condition,” FD MP Gia Tsagareishvili said.

Analysts state that external factors really affected the GEL but they also see the government’s faults in the economic field.

They have appealed to the Georgian Dream officials to be in close cooperation with the National Bank for to find an outcome from the extremely hard situation.

The Lari first started dropping in value against the greenback in November 2014. At this time the exchange rate saw 1 USD valued at 1.75 GEL. The Lari’s depreciation reached its highest level back in 1999 when 1 USD equaled 2.4510 GEL.

It is very hard not to be panicked as a majority of Georgians have low incomes and they are dependent on the small salaries they generally receive in GEL.

People are also skeptical to the government’s permanent promises that “everything will be okay” as there is no evidence for it.