Baku, Azerbaijan, May 22
Trend:
Lari depreciated against the dollar by 2.06 tetri, and at the moment 1 US dollar is worth 2.7676 lari, according to the National Bank of Georgia,Trend reports with reference to Accent News.
Georgian Finance Minister Ivane Machavariani attributes the change in lari rate to the latest developments in Turkey, one of the major trade partners of Georgia, and the depreciation of Turkish lira. In his words, this is one of the external factors influencing depreciation of lari.
"For more than a year, we have been talking about dedollarization in order to be less dependent on the dollar, so that our population will be less dependent on foreign currency," Machavariani said.
He added, "There was a heated debate in parliament when we said that we imposed restrictions on mortgage loans in dollars. The purpose of this is to have immunity to this kind of fluctuations that occur everywhere, especially in small and developing countries.”
However, economist Lasha Gotsiridze advises the government not to intervene in the economy. Gotsiridze says that now the authorities need to refrain from introducing new rules and, if possible, reduce taxes.
At the same time, according to the Minister of Finance, despite the depreciation of lari, the price increase will be within the limits set by the National Bank.
