President Names Candidate for C.Bank Board

President Giorgi Margvelashvili has named a former International Monetary Fund economist, Koba Gvenetadze, as a board member of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG).

If approved by the Parliament, Gvenetadze will fill a seat in the central bank’s board, which becomes vacant later this month after expiration of outgoing NBG President Giorgi Kadagidze’s seven-year term.

It will be up to seven-member board to pick new president of the central bank among its members, which will then require approval from President Margvelashvili.

Gvenetadze was chosen as a candidate by President Margvelashvili from a shortlist that also included an advisor to outgoing central bank chief Giorgi Bakradze. The shortlist was compiled as a result of consultations between the president’s office and a group of economic analysts and civil society representatives.

Before joining IMF in 2002, Gvenetadze served on various posts in the Georgian government; he was Deputy Finance Minister in 2000-2001.  

From early 2008 till late 2009 he served as IMF resident representative in Azerbaijan; he was then IMF resident representative in Kyrgyzstan.