Georgian central bank sells $30 mln at foreign exchange auction

The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) sold $30 million during its foreign exchange auction today. 

The average weighted bid rate was 3.2168.

This was the fifth intervention since September 10, 2020. During the past two months the NBG has sold $170 million. 

The NBG Head Koba Gvenetadze said last month that the central bank will sell more than $200 million by the end of this year.

He explained that the purpose of the interventions is not to control the lari's depreciation against the US dollar, but serves to supply foreign currency to the market.

This chart shows how the lari depreciated between September 10 and October 9 against the US dollar and Euro.

Charts by the NBG.

Gvenetadze said that the impact of the pandemic on the Georgian economy was mainly reflected in the practical disappearance of revenues from tourism. 

He said that the country’s economic team has attracted large amounts of foreign currency aid to assist the pandemic-damaged economy, which will be provided to the economy in stages this year and possibly in the first half of next year.

As of today, 1 USD costs 3.2233 GEL, while 1 EUR costs 3.7919 GEL.