The National Bank of Georgia has made changes to the rule on foreign currency loans up to GEL 200,000. Citizens and companies with foreign currency deposits in banks will be allowed to take USD and EUR credits in the amount corresponding to this deposit.
At the same time, NBG adopted another change related to loans secured by deposits. According to NBG's decision, when calculating the borrower's total obligations to the lender, the obligations secured by cash should not be taken into account.
According to the Vice-Governor of the National Bank, Archil Mestvirishvili, the exception imposed on foreign currency loans will not have a great impact on the lending market.
"This decision should not have a big impact on lending or dollarization. The main point of the decision is that when the limit of 200,000 is calculated, we do not count the existing deposit there, because we saw signs of regulation evasion when people took a loan and then put it on a deposit.
Therefore, it is no longer necessary to limit the currency of the loan secured by the deposit. If someone has a desire and a deposit, they can take a loan in foreign currency” said Archil Mestvirishvili.
