Acting National Bank Governor: resumption of IMF-supported programme could “advance in coming months”

Natia Turnava, the Acting Governor of the National Bank of Georgia, on Wednesday said the issue of resumption of the suspended IMF-supported Stand-By Arrangement for Georgia could “advance in the coming months”. 

The approval of the second review of the Arrangement has been delayed due to the Fund’s disapproval of recent change in the management structure of the NBG and the institution’s amendments to its compliance to sanctions regulations that exempted Georgian nationals from domestic sanctions without judgments by national courts. 

• Georgian central bank amends int’l sanctions compliance to exempt citizens without court judgement

Turnava said resumption of the programme remained a “main priority” and her office was “doing everything” for the objective.

After it became known that this programme was temporarily suspended, we have been working with various technical missions of the IMF to prepare some changes in the legislation, including further strengthening of the independence of the National Bank as an institution. Also, they want to make sure that our financial system is still stable, safe, and there are no question marks”, she said.

Last month Turnava met Jihad Azour, the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the IMF, and Bo Li, the Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, as part of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Morocco, to discuss “specific steps” for "prompt resumption" of the Stand-By Arrangement.