National Bank of Georgia highlights Capital Finance International profile citing inflation at 1.1% in 2024 and reduced foreign currency lending

The National Bank of Georgia published a news item drawing attention to a Capital Finance International article on Georgia’s economic reforms and the central bank’s role, highlighting the reported disinflation and measures aimed at maintaining financial stability. The article cites inflation falling from an 11.9% average in 2022 to 2.5% in 2023 and 1.1% in 2024, and notes that inflation has been below the 3% target since March 2023. It describes the banking sector as resilient, with adequate liquidity and well-capitalised institutions, and points to initiatives including development of a green bond market, referencing Georgia’s first corporate green bond issuance in 2022 for renewable energy projects. It also attributes reduced foreign currency vulnerability to macroprudential measures since 2017, including progressively increasing limits on unhedged foreign currency loans, alongside a decline in foreign currency loans from about 80% in the early 2010s to around 43% and foreign currency deposits to 52%. The piece further states that the National Bank of Georgia and Georgian financial institutions act in accordance with financial sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation and Belarus by the United States and other parties, and that MONEYVAL’s 2024 assessment of measures in the virtual (crypto) assets sector elevated Georgia’s FATF Recommendation 15 rating from “Partially Compliant” to “Largely Compliant.”