BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 30. Physical currency held outside banks accounted for 10.4% of Georgia's broad money supply (M3) in August 2026, compared with 11.4% a year earlier.
This is according to Trend's calculations based on National Bank of Georgia (NBG) monetary statistics.
The NBG's data show that currency outside banks (M0) stood at 6.44 billion lari ($2.46 billion) in August 2026, while total M3 reached 61.81 billion lari ($23.64 billion). In August 2025, the ratio stood at approximately 11.4%, according to Trend's calculations, indicating a decline of approximately 0.94 percentage points over the year.
According to Trend's calculations, over the same period the share of M1 — narrow money comprising cash and transferable deposits — within M3 increased slightly, to approximately 36% from an estimated 34.5% a year earlier. This reflects a change in the composition of liquid money holdings, with transferable deposits accounting for a larger share within M1.
The change is consistent with broader developments in payment practices and banking-sector deposit products in Georgia, although the NBG's data release does not identify specific factors behind changes in the composition of the money supply.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s gross international reserves reached an all-time high of $8.14 billion as of August 2026, up 56.4% year-on-year. The NBG’s monetary policy rate remained at 8.25% in September 2026.
