The National Bank of Georgia made a total of 18 foreign exchange interventions in the amount of 569.65 million USD to reduce fluctuations of exchange rate of the national currency and increase the liquid assets of the US dollar on the market.
The national currency has depreciated sharply since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Georgia.
As of March 1, cost of 1 USD made up 2.79 GEL, while in 2 weeks it reached 2.99 GEL, then GEL has depreciated sharply and the value of 1 USD exceeded 3.40 GEL.
The maximum exchange rate of USD was on March 27, 2020, when 1 USD had made up 3.48 lari.
To reduce such volatility, the National Bank launched foreign exchange interventions on March 13 and sold $ 20 million.
In March, the NBG held three foreign exchange auctions and sold $ 100 million.
At the end of the month, GEL strengthened significantly due to the anti-crisis plan presented by the government and the donors' readiness to provide emergency assistance to Georgia. In April, the value of the dollar became 3.15 GEL. In the same month, the NBG made only one intervention and sold $ 20 million.
In June, national currency strengthened and USD became 2.95 lari. However, the exchange rate of the national currency depreciated soon, which was also related to the changed expectations about tourism.
The results of 18 foreign exchange auctions conducted by the NBG:
1. March 13, 2020 – intervention of 20 000 000 USD, change of exchange rate - depreciation - 4.48 tetri;
2. March 19, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 2.36 tetri;
3. March 25, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - depreciation - 0.82 tetri;
4. April 27, 2020 - $20 000 000 intervention, change of exchange rate - depreciation - 0.17 tetri;
5. May 21, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 0.92 tetri;
6. June 10, 2020 - $ 29,650,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 2.55 tetri;
7. June 17, 2020 - $ 20,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 2.39 tetri;
8. July 02, 2020 - $ 20,000,000 intervention, changed of exchange rate - strengthening 1.04 tetri;
9. July 22,2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 1.09 tetri;
10. August 13, 2020 - $ 20,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 0.57 tetri;
11. August 27, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 1.08 tetri;
12. September 10, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - depreciation -0.14 tetri;
13. September 16, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - depreciation -0.01 tetri;
14. September 23,2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - depreciation -1.04 tetri;
15. October 02, 2020 - $ 20,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 0.13 tetri;
16. October 09,2020 - $ 30,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 0.61 tetri;
17. October 19, 2020 - $ 30,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 0.69 tetri;
18. October 22, 2020 - $ 40,000,000 intervention, change of exchange rate - strengthening 0.93 tetri;
