C.Bank Buys USD 10mln amid GEL Appreciation
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) bought USD 10 million at a foreign currency auction on March 21 as the national currency lari (GEL) continued its recent trend of strengthening against U.S. dollar.
It was central banks second such intervention since March 17, when it bought USD 5 million.
The previous time, prior to March 17, when the central bank intervened on the purchasing side was in late August, 2014, couple of months before GEL started depreciation in November, 2014 – weakening from about 1.75 per U.S. dollar to its all time low of 2.4985 by late January, 2016.
Since late January GEL appreciated 8.1% against U.S. dollar to 2.2953 as of March 21, 3.2% weaker than year earlier and 30.8% weaker compared to early November, 2014.
Amid lari’s depreciation, in January the central bank made three interventions by selling total of USD 60 million. Total of USD 286.96 million was sold in nine separate interventions throughout 2015 to support GEL.
Gross international reserves stood at USD 2.426 billion as of end-February 2016, down from USD 2.447 billion a month earlier and down from USD 2.469 billion a year earlier.
