In Tbilisi, many exchange offices stop selling US dollars

In Tbilisi, some exchange offices have temporarily stopped selling US dollars. The official exchange rate of Georgian lari to US dollar set up by the National Bank of Georgia reached 2.26.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that during recent days, the Georgian currency has depreciated against US dollar by at least 20 percentage points. The Georgian currency faces depreciation starting from November 2014.

Meanwhile, in exchange offices that continue trading US dollars, the exchange rate of Georgian lari to US dollar varies from 2.35 up to 2.38. At the same time, staff members of the exchange offices still predict changes in exchange rate for today, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports.

Earlier, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has urged Georgian residents not to panic because of the depreciation of the Georgian currency. He has stated that the situation is being controlled by the authorities. However, the opposition "United National Movement" has called on the President of Georgia to convene on February 27 an extraordinary session of the Parliament with the participation of the Cabinet of Ministers to review the government's plan of action to get the country out of the crisis.

On February 24, the IMF mission arrived in Georgia. Together with the National Bank, the IMF mission intends to analyze the macroeconomic risks and propose measures to normalize the situation.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.