The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) bought USD 20 million at a foreign currency auction on May 17 as lari (GEL) continued strengthening against U.S. dollar.
GEL was trading at 2.1878 per U.S. dollar by Tuesday evening, 9% stronger since the beginning of the year and 7.4% stronger compared to May, 2015.
It was NBG’s eighth intervention on the purchasing side since mid-March. The central bank bought total of USD 115 million in these eight interventions in a period between March 17 and May 17.
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.
Amid lari’s depreciation, the central bank made three interventions in January 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 2.456 billion as of end-April 2016, just slightly over than a month earlier, and up from USD 2.43 billion a year earlier.
