The Acting Governor of the National Bank, Archil Mestvirishvili reported to the Parliament on the activity for 2022. The Report encompasses the overview of the monetary credit, currency and oversight policies, as well as the audit financial statements.
As the reporter underlined, the key task of the NB is to ensure price stability. According to him, the NB shall ensure financial stability and transparency and facilitate sustainable economic growth without prejudice to the fulfillment of its key tasks. As clarified by the reporter, the key instrument of the monetary policy is the monetary policy rate varying according to the inflation forecast. Per the reporter, the NB strives to facilitate financial stability for long-term sustainable economic growth.
“In this regard, we have been intensely applying the macro-prudent instruments to mitigate the shocks related to the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war crisis for the bank sector”, - he noted and stated that the NB updated the oversight policy and emphasized focus on the competition in the bank sector.
In this context, the reporter overviewed the activities and cooperation with the Parliament stressing that the Law on Activity of Micro Banks has been approved and now, certain normative acts are being adopted.
“We hope for entering the micro banks market, bringing additional competition to the bank sector. We also undertake open banking projects allowing non-bank shareholders to have access to information available in the bank, including, based on the consent of a client, access to the accounts of a client, and fin-tech companies may offer various services to the client, which creates additional competition”, - he noted and dwelt on the activities related to countering money-laundry and financing of terrorism.
According to him, against the background of the Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022 coupled with foreign challenges in Georgia and the wider world, the NB ensured effective response in macroeconomic terms and also by maintaining and enhancing the bank system sustainability.
“Our activities had a certain impact on the international investment credit rating of Georgia by the international companies and the steps taken by the National Bank have been positively estimated, which boosts the trust of the international institutions and investors to Georgian economics”, - he added.
