Daily News February 5, 2021	Days:  03 04 05 15 16

politics

GEORGIAN ECONOMY MINISTER: IN NEAR FUTURE, WE HAVE TO PROCEED TO FREE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH INDIA

Natia Turnava, Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, declared that “We have already exchanged” the text of the free trade agreement with India. “We hope that in near future we will pass to direct negotiations”, she says.

economics

IN 2020, GEORGIA’S STATE FOREIGN DEBT INCREASED BY 31.2%

Georgian Finance Ministry reported that as of December 31, 2020, Georgia’s state foreign debt amounted to $7.5 billion. If compared with the same date of 2019, the volume has increased by 31.2%.




IN 2020, GEORGIA’S DOMESTIC STATE DEBT INCREASED BY 48.5%

Georgian Finance Ministry reported that as of December 31, 2020, Georgia’s domestic state debt (excluding the so-called “historical debt”) amounted to 6.19 billion lari. If compared with the same period in 2019, the volume has increased by 48.5%.




NBG PRESIDENT URGES COMPANIES TO BE ACTIVE ON “BMATCH” PLATFORM

Koba Gvenetadze, president of National Bank of Georgia (NBG), urges the companies, admitted to BMatch platform for FX trade, to be active there, while the rest, especially large companies – to join the platform.

At the moment, besides NBG, all 15 local commercial banks and 5 microfinance organizations, one non-banking company (local telecom operator MagtiCom) and one international investment fund (Eaton Vance) participate in transactions on the BMatch platform, NBG specified.




NBG PRESIDENT: THE MAIN THING IS FINANCIAL MODEL OF BANKS AND MICROFINANCE ORGANIZATIONS, NOT THEIR NUMBER

Koba Gvenetadze, president of National Bank of Georgia (NBG) pointed that “It depends only on the market, how many banks the country should have”, and NBG “does not have any mark on how many banks or microfinance organizations should operate” in the country. “The main thing is that financial model, which this or that organization has, should be healthy”, he said.




GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION: RELEVANT DEPARTMENTS WILL DEVELOP AGENDA OF CORPORATIZATION AND REFORMATION OF “GEORGIAN RAILWAY”

Administration of Georgian government announced that relevant departments will develop agenda of corporatization and reformation of state-owned Georgian Railway. Respective decision was made at a working meeting under chairmanship of Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia on February 4.




CONSTRUCTION OF BAKURTSIKHE-GURJAANI BYPASS ROAD TO BE COMPLETED IN SPRING

Construction of 15.5 km Bakurtsikhe-Gurjaani section of Akhmeta-Telavi-Bakurtsikhe motor road in Kakheti region is planned to complete in spring this year, Georgian Roads Department declared.

Gurjaani-Bakurtsikhe bypass road will connect Akhmeta-Telavi-Bakurtsikhe road of domestic importance with Tbilisi-Bakurtsikhe-Lagodekhi international road, the Department specified.

business

IN 2020, NUMBER OF AIR PASSENGERS IN GEORGIA DROPPED 6.3 TIMES

Georgian Civil Aviation Agency reported that 833,846 passengers were transported by regular and charter flights via Georgian airports in 2020. If compared with 2019, the number has decreased 6.3 times.