Economist Akaki Tsomaia declares, that if the political crisis deepens and turns into an economic crisis, which is likely to lead to an increase in inflation, the National Bank of Georgia will face quite significant challenges. According to him, this will be a situation where both the potential and actual economy will shrink. In such a situation, the NBG will be faced with a choice and must either choose to ensure price stability or maintain the economic growth rate at some level.
"I have no questions about the independence of the National Bank. It is not really an independent institution today. The NBG is one of the offices, along with other former institutions, that existed in Georgia and serves one person - an informal governor. Accordingly, somewhere "there" they will decide - whether to choose inflation or economic growth, and the National Bank will act accordingly", - Akaki Tsomaia said.
The expert also assessed the National Bank's decision to leave the monetary policy at 8% and said that so far, nothing alarming is happening with regard to inflation, so the NBG could either leave it unchanged or tighten monetary policy slightly.
