Lasha Papashvili, Vice President of the Georgian Business Association, stated that he currently has no information regarding the new “Economic Development Bank” project.
The bank is expected to be established by merging the state “Enterprise Georgia” program with the former “Georgia Development Fund,” but details of its operations and structure remain unclear.
Papashvili said, “I don’t know anything about the Development Bank. Honestly, I have no idea how they plan to implement it. We discussed this when the Development Fund was created and agreed a bank wasn’t necessary, but now, I’m not sure in what form it will operate. Most Western countries have import-export banks that offer subsidized loans to support exports. If the new bank functions in this way, it could be useful; otherwise, I don’t know.”
On March 4, the Georgian Parliament approved the liquidation of the former Georgia Development Fund (previously the Partnership Fund). However, no draft law has yet been introduced specifying the operational rules for the proposed Development Bank.
