European, Georgian central banks meet as country submits first Economic Reform Programme as EU candidate

Officials of the European Central Bank and the National Bank of Georgia have held a remote meeting after Georgia submitted its first annual Economic Reform Programme to the European Commission after obtaining the status of a European Union membership candidate country.

The National Bank said on Thursday the virtual meeting involved Natia Turnava, its Acting Governor, and heads of its departments with the ECB to discuss “general macroeconomic environment, monetary and exchange rate policy, financial stability and banking supervision reforms” aimed at aligning domestic structures with EU practices.

We are pleased that Georgia, as a European candidate country, is included in the ERP exercise for the first time this year. During the meeting with the ECB Delegation, we highlighted Georgia's sustainable macroeconomic policy and provided an overview of our monetary policy framework, current tasks, efforts to promote financial stability, as well as challenges and solutions”, Turnava said.

The Acting Governor also called the meeting “productive”, and added she was “looking forward to continuing related bilateral discussions”.