The dispute between the Georgian Healthcare Group and the National Bank of Georgia has not yet been resolved. According to the CEO of GHG, Nika Gamkrelidze, the issue is unfortunately still present.
Georgian Healthcare Group requested permission from the Central Bank to obtain loan financing from the Bank of Georgia. However, the company has limited access to liquid assets under the National Bank of Georgia regulation. According to Gamkrelidze, this is related to the incomprehensible and incompatible decision of the NBG, as the "Georgian Healthcare Group" is considered interconnected with "Bank of Georgia."
It should be noted that the Georgian Healthcare Group sent a letter to the National Bank on March 20, stating that two years have passed since the split of the BGEO Group and, therefore, there is no reason to qualify the Bank of Georgia and GHG as affiliates. However, the issue is still undecided. This was why the Georgian Healthcare Group negotiated for funding with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and attracted $ 25 million.
"It took the same time for the EBRD loan to be approved as for the NBG president to respond to the letter," Gamkrelidze said. GHG's CEO still criticizes the central bank and its management for their rigid approaches, saying that such an approach causes investors' loss of trust for one of the major institutions.
See the full position of the NBG on this topic by clicking this link.
"Unfortunately, the issue is still present. Nothing has changed in the matter. We managed to rearrange ourselves because one of our group companies, Georgian Global Utility, issued Eurobonds, and consequently, the limits were released in the local banks. The rigid approach of the National Bank has remained a rigid approach again, and it is very unfortunate.
We are not talking about us here. We are talking about business trust in a large institution called the National Bank and its management. This lack of communication and less transparency leads to a lack of trust, and I am not alone in calling this. Many big businessmen have said that this lack of trust exists and where it leads ... The lack of trust leads to delays in attracting foreign direct investment. This approach creates ambiguity over the institution's policy with the largest monetary instruments.
When it is rigid and less transparent, the approach is "we know everything, and everyone else knows nothing," unfortunately, this leads to miscommunication. Accordingly, it breaks investors' appetite to invest money because it is simple: we do not know what the GEL risk is today. When investors do not know what the GEL risk is, it points to the National Bank's weak GEL policy. At such times we can go ahead and no longer invest money," Nika Gamkrelidze told #ForbesWeek
