As of March 29, GEL devaluated by 1.28 tetri against USD and as a result cost of 1 USD made up 3.3846 GEL.
Beka Liluashvili, Ex-Economic Advisor to the former PM and MP of Georgian Dream names several reasons of national currency devaluation.
"We need to understand what is happening today: there is the third wave of the pandemic and the currencies of our trading partners, including Turkey and Russia, are depreciating significantly. For example, lira has depreciated sharply. All this affects the attitudes of our citizens. These processes are reflected on GEL. Expectations are changed and if you need to buy USD, you make a transaction earlier, this is additional pressure for the foreign exchange market. In addition, the tourism sector, which is an important source of currency inflow, does not exist and it is a significant challenge for the GEL exchange rate. These processes do not merely take place in Georgia. However, it is well-controlled by the NBG”, Liluashvili said.
The MP says that "attitudes regarding vaccination have not turned out so positive to overweight the negative expectations”.
"The vaccination process is taking place globally, including in Georgia, but the scale is not large enough to meet the challenges. You will be more reluctant to travel, whether you are vaccinated or not. Exactly such examples affect. Vaccination rates should increase, but along with the vaccination, we need an active economic policy in order to overcome the economic challenges, "Beka Liluashvili said.
In addition, the MP deeply believes that for strengthening the national currency, it is important to be focused on attracting FDI, as foreign investments are an important source of currency inflows.
