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Central Bank Sells USD 20 Million

National Bank of Georgia (NBG) sold USD 20 million at a foreign currency auction on October 6 to support national currency lari (GEL), three days after selling USD 40 million.

At one point on October 6 GEL was trading at 2.36 per U.S. dollar, strengthening to 2.34 by late afternoon.

After the October 6 intervention, NBG’s official exchange rate was set at GEL 2.3363 per U.S. dollar, slightly weaker than GEL 2.3341 a day earlier; the rate is 2.31% stronger compared to year earlier and 2.5% stronger than in the beginning of this year. Exchange kiosks in Tbilisi were selling dollar for about GEL 2.35-2.36 on Thursday evening.

Since the start of this year the central bank sold total of USD 200 million and bought USD 278.35 million in 22 interventions.
 
The most of the NBG’s interventions on the purchasing side this year came in a period between mid-March and early June, when GEL was gaining against U.S. dollar.

Gross international reserves stood at USD 2.888 billion as of end-August, up from USD 2.856 billion a month earlier and up from USD 2.463 billion a year earlier.

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.

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