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The News in Brief

Thursday, November 8
Civil Society Organizations on Saakashvili’s Remarks

Civil society organizations released a statement on November 6, condemning remarks of Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili considering them “xenophobic”.

In his video address on November 4, Saakashvili spoke about how useless are "emaciated" tourists, "Bangladeshi visitors, Hindus, who work in the United Arab Emirates", since they do not bring much income to the tourist industry.

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) commented on the video, noting that this is not the first case when the supporters of the election subjects are using hate speech and statements triggering violence, hatred and hostility, religious and ethnic confrontation.

"He used hate speech in the video footage released on social media on November 4, 2018. Mikheil Saakashvili used a negative word to describe Bangladeshi and Hindu tourists. It should be noted that Saakashvili apologized before he used that word, indicating that he absolutely willfully used the word”, reads the statement released by the Young Lawyers’ Association.



NBG links GEL devaluation to recent elections

The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has shared information on the new exchange rate, according to which, $1 equals 2.7524 GEL.

The NBG linked the devaluation of the national currency to the Georgian presidential elections.

"The NBG vows to use all the instruments at its disposal to avoid high inflation“, reads the statement on the website of the National Bank.

Chairman of Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the executive government and the National Bank of Georgia would do everything to stabilize the Gel’s exchange rate.

“We are working, but we cannot discuss the details now, however, everybody will see the results,” Kobakhidze said.

MP Davit Chichinadze said that the National Bank is always looking for wrongdoers not in itself or among bankers, but somewhere else.

“The government should give a proper answer to the bankers after the elections,” he noted. (By Mariam Chanishvili)