Georgia’s international foreign exchange reserves have nearly doubled over the past two years, reaching a record $8.14 billion, Tamta Sopromadze, head of the National Bank of Georgia’s Macroeconomics and Statistics Department, said.
She noted that not only the total volume of reserves but also almost all major reserve adequacy indicators are at historical highs. The IMF’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric stands at 128.3%, above the 100% benchmark, while the import coverage ratio has reached five months. Sopromadze said the NBG continues to accumulate reserves, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and growing confidence in the Georgian lari.
Sopromadze also highlighted increasing lari-denominated deposits as a factor supporting reserve accumulation. At the same time, she said effective management and diversification of reserve assets remain important. Around two years ago, the NBG added gold to its reserves, and rising gold prices have generated additional returns. Gold currently accounts for 14% of Georgia’s total international reserves.
The NBG plans to continue diversifying its reserves across different currencies and asset classes. Sopromadze said the central bank may also continue purchasing gold as part of this strategy, while reserve diversification involving the Chinese yuan will also continue.
