IMF completes first review of Stand-By Arrangement, enables $40mln for Georgia
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund has completed the first review of the three-year Stand-By Arrangement for Georgia, enabling access to about $40 million for the country. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund has completed the first review of the three-year Stand-By Arrangement for Georgia, enabling access to about $40 million for the country, the IMF said on Thursday.
In its review, the IMF shared some forecasts for the country. The Fund said a "strong growth” of 10 percent was projected in the end-of-year 2022 figures of the domestic economy, and added while inflation "has been slowing", it remained elevated due to high commodity prices and strong domestic demand.
The institution added that both growth and inflation were expected to moderate in 2023.
Antoinette M. Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said the Georgian economy had “performed strongly” in 2022, with adverse spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine so far having less impact than expected.
The authorities have appropriately used recent positive outturns to rebuild fiscal and external buffers, and their performance under the programme has been satisfactory. In the context of high uncertainty and risks to the global outlook, continued prudent policies are important to further entrench macroeconomic stability", she said.
The IMF concluded by saying Georgia’s programme continued to “focus on reinforcing macroeconomic stability and maintaining reform momentum through prudent macroeconomic policies to reduce inflation and rebuild fiscal and external buffers, and structural reforms to foster more inclusive and job-rich growth”.
Georgia’s progress in debt management, operating an office for large taxpayers and facilitating risk analysis and tax audit was discussed between the country’s Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili and Enrico Aavi, the head of the Technical Assistance project of the International Monetary Fund, the Ministry said on Tuesday.
Georgian economy minister Levan Davitashvili on Monday said the forecast of the International Monetary Fund projected the Georgian economy’s 2022 growth to be 10.5 percent, and highlighted the country exhibited “one of the highest” growth rates in the region.
Georgian finance minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Wednesday reviewed the post-pandemic economic challenges in the country in his address at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development high-level panel discussion on Overcoming the Current and New Challenges of Transparency and Information Exchange.
Georgian authorities and the International Monetary Fund have reached a staff-level agreement on policies for completion of the first review of the stand-by arrangement following "productive discussions" between the sides, which will allow the organisation to allocate $38 million for the country, the IMF announced on Monday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday met Jihad Azour, the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund, to review the Fund’s new three-year, $280 million Stand-by Arrangement that aims to “further strengthen” microeconomic stability in Georgia.