Financier and former chairman of the Parliament's Finance and Budget Committee Irakli Kovzanadze believes that renewing cooperation with the International Monetary Fund is of particular importance for the country's financial stability.
Irakli Kovzanadze notes that despite existing problems in relations between the parties, finding a compromise should still be possible. Furthermore, Kovzanadze expresses hope that constructive meetings will be held between IMF and representatives of the Georgian government and National Bank during the annual meetings planned for late April in Washington.
According to Irakli Kovzanadze, having a new program with the Fund will give the country the ability to easily attract financial resources when needed.
"It is very important to renew cooperation with the Monetary Fund. I said last year too that it's desirable to start a new program and cooperation with the IMF. You know there are problems in this direction. There are issues related to state enterprise reform, there are issues related to the independence of the National Bank. These issues exist, but despite this, I still think that it's possible to find a compromise from both the Georgian government and the Monetary Fund's side. In this regard, there is a good opportunity - annual meetings are being held in Washington at the end of April, and I think that the Georgian government's economic team and the National Bank have a pretty good opportunity to renew relations with the Monetary Fund and achieve either the renewal of the program or the possibility to receive a loan from the Monetary Fund when needed, so that the National Bank of Georgia can, as before, receive financial resources to increase reserves when necessary. As you know, our reserves have decreased and over the past two years, total reserves have decreased by approximately 25%. Therefore, increasing net reserves will also be necessary," - stated Irakli Kovzanadze.
