Daily News May 22, 2020	Days:  20 21 22 25 27

politics

WITH ROAD MAP OF EU4CLIMATE, GEORGIA PLANS TO IMPROVE NATIONAL LEGISLATION IN TERMS OF CLIMATE AND ENERGY

Representation of the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Georgia reported that within the EU-financed program EU4Climate, representatives of the Georgian government, the EU and the Energy Community discussed degree of facilitation, provided by Georgian legislation to reduction of greenhouse gases’ emission.

UNDP implements EU4Climate (the program, launched in 2019, will last until end of 2022) with the budget of 8.8 million EUR in 6 countries of the Eastern Partnership.




THE PARLIAMENT AUTHORIZED THE GOVERNMENT TO INTRODUCE RESTRICTIONS FOR A PERIOD UNTIL JULY 15 WITHOUT DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY

Today, Georgian Parliament considered in second and third (final) hearings and approved (by 81 votes pro with no contra, the opposition did not participate in vote) amendments to the law “On Public Health”. The amendments authorize the government to introduce restrictions without declaration of state of emergency.




RESTRICTION ON TRAVEL BY CAR OF MORE THAN 3 PEOPLE WILL REMAIN IN FORCE ONLY FOR TAXI

We decided restriction on travel by car of more than 3 people will remain in force only for taxi, Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia declared. He said this at today’s meeting of interdepartmental coordination council (created by Georgian government in connection with COVID-19 pandemic) and noted that this restriction is cancelled for all other types of motor transport.

economics

AFD ALLOCATES 190M EUR TO GEORGIA

French Development Agency (AFD) allocates to Georgia a credit of 190 million EUR in support of the plan, developed by the country’s government for response to crisis, caused by COVID-19 pandemic. For that end, two agreements were signed today.




AIIB ALLOCATED 91.34M EUR TO GEORGIA

China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) allocated to Georgia the budgetary support of 91.34 million EUR. Corresponding credit agreement was signed on May 21.




NBG: QUALITY OF BANKS’ LOAN PORTFOLIO BY THE END OF 2019 WAS SATISFACTORY

National Bank of Georgia (NBG) considers that quality of Georgian banks’ loan portfolio by the end of 2019 was satisfactory.

As NBG indicated in the annual report, improvement of portfolio’s quality indicators was caused both by growth of the portfolio size and improvement of regional environment.




IN Q1, AVERAGE WEIGHTED INTEREST RATE FOR CONSUMER LOANS, ISSUED IN LARI, INCREASED BY 1.25 PP Q-O-Q AND BY 1.36 PP Y-O-Y

National Bank of Georgia (NBG) reported that average weighted interest rate on consumer loans, issued in national currency, by the end of the 1^st quarter made up 21.53%.

The rate a quarter ago (i.e. by the end of December 2019) made up 20.28%, while a year ago (i.e. by the end of the 1^st quarter of 2019) – 20.17%.

business

THE GOVERNMENT PLANS TO TERMINATE AGREEMENT ON CONSTRUCTION OF “KHUDONHES”

Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development signed the contract with law firm Hogan Lovells. The company has to render services to the Georgian side in the course of termination of the contract, signed with TransElectrica on construction of KhudonHES in mountain region of Svaneti.




IN Q1, RATE OF PORTINGS IN MOBILE NETWORKS INCREASED BY 83.2% Y-O-Y

Georgian National Communication Commission reported that number of mobile users, ported in the 1^st quarter their subscriber numbers to other networks of the country, made up 21,151. If compared with the same period of 2019, the rate has increased by 83.2%.




“FITCH” WITHDREW THE RATING OF “SWISS CAPITAL”

Fitch Ratings declared about affirmation of long-term issuer default rating of Georgian microfinancial organization Swiss Capital at the level “B-” with “stable” outlook.

At the same time, the agency reported about withdrawal of the rating “for commercial purposes”.