Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili discusses GEL currency stability and Russian tourist inflow in Georgia
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Minister of Finance Lasha Khutsishvili, after the end of the government meeting, spoke about the current GEL currency and said that it has strengthened substantially in the recent period and it will remain this stability.
According to the minister, the stability of the lari is ensured by the economic activity in the country today:
"GEL has strengthened substantially recently. You know that when the war started in Ukraine, the GEL was at 3.40, then it was stable at around 3.05. Today, as a result of the last 2 days of trading, it is 2.80.
The inflow of cash flows is determined by the increasing rate of exports, the increasing rate of tourism, and the increasing rate of cash inflows so that the GEL can maintain stability in the medium term.
Naturally, depending on the daily data, there may be fluctuations, however, in the medium term, the GEL will be stable, and this will be ensured by the economic activity in the country today. It is very difficult to comment on the daily changes of GEL. This is related to many factors. Lari will maintain its stability in the medium term," Khutsishvili said.
Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili also spoke regarding Russian tourists' inflow in Georgia, saying that more Russian citizens were entering Georgia before the pandemic. He also discussed the 'fear' of Russian tourists entering the country, calling it 'absolutely incomprehensible'. Minister said that government doesn't see any risks regarding this topic:
"First of all, when we talk about unprecedented growth, we should look at the numbers and quantity. If we look at the numbers, we have to compare it to whatever period it is comparable to. You can't compare it to a period of the pandemic when the borders were closed and border checkpoints were virtually non-functional, and you can't compare it to a period when there were some disruptions to traffic. Of course, we have to compare it with the period before the pandemic, and if we compare the numbers, it is not increased but halved in number. Therefore, the fear expressed in this direction is completely incomprehensible. This information is public, this information is available, and therefore, any person can access the information, analyze this information, and therefore, we do not see any risks in this direction," Lasha Khutsishvili said.
