Economic Press Monitor December 1 - 7, 2024	Days:  09 16 23 30 07

economic & politics

REZONANSI: “SITUATION IS AT A DEADLOCK – WHAT PROCESSES HAVE BEGUN AND WITH WHAT THE SEARCHES AND ARRESTS ARE ASSOCIATED”

December 5, 2024 - On December 4, Georgian law enforcement agencies conducted searches in the offices of the opposition associations Unity – National Movement and Coalition for Change. Nika Gvaramia, one of Coalition for Change leaders, and other opposition figures were arrested.




REZONANSI: “CALLING BANK EMPLOYEES TO STRIKE ENRAGED ECONOMISTS”

December 5, 2024 - “Today you can change the fate of this country: go on strike – this is your right, guaranteed by Constitution”, former president of the National Bank of Georgia Giorgi Kadagidze addressed the banking sector.

“Go on strike, helping those who are illegally detained, beaten, and strangled.




REZONANSI: ““IF AUTHORITIES DO NOT COME TO TERMS, THE PEOPLE WILL NOT STOP, WHICH WILL LEAD THE COUNTRY TO DESTRUCTION” – IGOR KVESELAVA”

December 5, 2024 - Shevardnadze was in power for 11 years, then the corresponding period came, and he left, then Saakashvili was in power for 9 years, the corresponding period came and he left too, while now the Georgian Dream has been in power for 12 years, and they have the same period, and they must leave, says political analyst Igor Kveselava. He sees the way out of current crisis in the country in the coalition government.




TABULA: “WHAT IS WRITTEN IN THE STATEMENT OF ANTONY BLINKEN?”

December 5, 2024 - The US “strongly condemns the Georgian Dream party’s brutal and unjustified violence against Georgian citizens, protesters, members of the media, and opposition figures”, statement by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reads.

Blinken calls on Georgia’s ruling party “to cease its repressive tactics, including its use of arbitrary detention and physical violence, to attempt to silence its critics”.




NETGAZETI.GE: “PRESIDENT URGES PARTNER COUNTRIES TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST “GEORGIAN DREAM””

December 5, 2024 - Hashtag #GeorgianProtests has to be renamed #RepressioninGeorgia, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili posted on X.

“My urgent call to our partners and those who want to prevent crisis to go deeper and instability, it is time to put strong pressure on a ruling party that is driving the country over the cliff!”, the President says, warning “Do not be late… !” (published on December 4).




TABULA: “PRESIDENT: IVANISHVILI’S RESPONSIBILITY IS TO LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE, MINE – TO REACH THE NEW ELECTIONS”

December 4, 2024 - “Today, we are in a very dangerous situation when there is no longer any real constitutional power in the country”, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili declared. Thus, she reacted to the decision of the country’s Constitutional Court, which did not accept the lawsuit regarding the October 26 parliamentary elections (according to official figures, the ruling Georgian Dream won 54%, while the opposition and non-governmental organizations, which observed the elections, claim that there was massive systemic fraud).




FORBES GEORGIA: “BUSINESSES WHICH CONDEMNED ACTIONS OF THE “GEORGIAN DREAM””

December 4, 2024 - The decision of the Georgian Dream to suspend launch of negotiations on joining the EU until the end of 2028 caused mass protests in Georgia. Part of Georgian business sector condemned brutal dispersal of protests.




NETGAZETI.GE: “USE OF DISPROPORTIONATE FORCE IS OF CONCERN – UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER”

December 4, 2024 - The use of disproportionate force is of concern, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in connection with riot police’s crackdown on protests continuing in Georgia. The challenge is impossibility to identify law enforcement officers, who take part in dispersal of the rally, he noted.




NETGAZETI.GE: “NO NEW PROJECTS WITH THIS GOVERNMENT OF GEORGIA WILL BE IMPLEMENTED – GERMAN MINISTER OF ECONOMY”

December 4, 2024 - With this Georgian government (Georgian Dream), “development cooperation can no longer be meaningfully implemented”, says German Economy Minister Svenja Schulze.

According to Schulze, all co-operation with Georgia is under review.




TABULA: “EUROPE WILL TAKE APPROPRIATE MEASURES AGAINST GEORGIA’S GOVERNMENT – STEINMEIER”

December 3, 2024 - The Georgian government is leaving the path to the EU, although Georgia assumed this obligation under the Constitution, declared German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

According to Steinmeier, Europe will take appropriate measures against the Georgian government, but remains open to European aspirations of the country’s citizens.

macroeconomics & budget

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “WE THINK THESE ARE SHORT-TERM FLUCTUATIONS AND THE MARKET IS STABILIZING ITSELF – NATIA TURNAVA”

December 5, 2024 - “Current depreciation of lari exchange rate is associated with expectation factors”, says acting president of the National Bank of Georgia Natia Turnava. “We believe that these are short-term fluctuations and the market is stabilizing itself”, she notes.




BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “LOAN AGREEMENT OF 68.2M LARI WAS SIGNED BETWEEN ADB AND GEORGIA”

December 3, 2024 - A loan agreement of 68.2 million lari has been signed between Georgia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The financial resource is intended to support the vocational education and training sector in Georgia.




REZONANSI: ““LARI SET THE ANTI-RECORD OF THE YEAR!” – THE RATE IS ALREADY THE HIGHEST AND IT SEEMS, IT ISN’T GOING TO STOP AT ONE PLACE”

December 3, 2024 - Since the parliamentary elections of October 26, lari has depreciated by 14 tetri, which is associated with the current political tension, the newspaper says. At the moment, the exchange rate on the Bloomberg trading platform has exceeded 2.88 GEL/USD, which is the highest mark of the year.

conflict and court

TABULA: “WHAT STRASBOURG COURT DECIDED IN KEZERASHVILI CASE?”

December 5, 2024 - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Georgian Supreme Court was biased in the case of former Georgian Defense Minister David Kezerashvili.

The Supreme Court found Kezerashvili guilty of embezzlement of approximately 5 million EUR within one of the Defense Ministry’s training projects and reversed the acquittal made by the Court of Appeal.




NETGAZETI.GE: ““NAMAKHVANHES” CASE: GEORGIA MUST PAY $383.2M TO “ENKA””

December 3, 2024 - The international arbitration process has been completed and it has been decided that termination of the contract by Enka Renewables (a subsidiary of Turkish Enka İnşaat) was fair, the company declares. As a result, Georgia must pay $383.2 million to the company.

finances & banking

BANKEBI DA FINANSEBI: “WE CATEGORICALLY REFUTE FALSE INFORMATION SPREAD ON SOCIAL NETWORKS – STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL BANK”

December 5, 2024 - “We categorically refute false information spread on social networks, which allege that some restrictions are imposed on conversion into foreign currency of deposits, placed in commercial banks, or transfer of funds in foreign currency abroad”, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) states.

The NBG calls on the public to refrain from spreading “such misinformation”.