About 20,000 Russian citizens have entered Georgia since February 24, compared to 40,000 in the same period of 2019, Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri said in response to rumours about Russian influx in Georgia amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The minister noted that over 3000 Russian citizens stayed in the country.
BMG has got interested which currency is brought by Russian citizens in Georgia.
As it turns out, Russian citizens are mostly making USD exchange at the booths. Nino Kavtaradze, head of the Association of Currency Exchangers declares that Russian ruble turnover is close to zero.
“Recently, demand on currency exchange booths is increased by Russian citizens, but they do not exchange large sums of money; what is converted is also in USD. They mostly exchange USD 50 – USD 100, so their main currency for conversion is USD.
As for the turnover of ruble, due to the current situation, ruble turnover has decreased. Since banks no longer make transfers, there is no demand for rubles in the market; The ruble turnover has been reduced by around 95%, although the minimum amount that comes in is still converted.
Ruble exchange is mainly made by citizens who receive remittances from Russian. The remittances are close to zero, therefore the ruble is no longer exchanged,” said Nino Kavtaradze.
