The national currency of Georgia started depreciating sharply at the end of 2014 when Giorgi Kadagidze was the President of the National Bank of Georgia. The minimum exchange rate that GEL reached during his presidency was 2.50 with regard to USD, recorded in January 2016.
The members of the Government of Georgia and their supporters stated that Giorgi Kadagidze’s deliberate actions were one of the main reasons for the depreciation of GEL. With this, they emphasised, thereby misleading the population, that the President of the National Bank of Georgia, appointed during the office of the United National Movement, was deliberately facilitating the depreciation of GEL.
FactCheck gathered up all of the false accusations against Mr Kadagidze which, as we can see, have turned out to be absolutely baseless. From March 2016, Giorgi Kadagidze is no longer the President of the National Bank of Georgia; however, GEL continues depreciating, setting new record lows. On 2 December 2016, the official exchange rate of GEL with regard to USD reached 2.59.
26 February 2015
- Bidzina Ivanishvili: “It was the competence of the National Bank of Georgia to manage the situation in a way that it would not lead to inadequate events. What we see is the complete opposite of that – Giorgi Kadagidze, the President of the National Bank of Georgia appointed by the United National Movement, who has led to us to the national currency crisis with his inactions or incorrect actions.”
- Mikheil Dundua: “This is a person motivated by political conjuncture and is in the mode of obstruction. Happily, the situation is stabilising, despite his inactions.”
- Bidzina Ivanishvili: “When the fluctuations began, GEL reacted healthily. When the GEL depreciated I credited the economy and the National Bank of Georgia for it; however, the National Bank was late in its reaction, effectively generating public unrest.”
- Mikheil Dundua: “The President of the National Bank of Georgia increased the supply of loans to commercial banks by GEL 75 million in just one day. The amount of debt reached GEL 855 million. The exchange rate worsened after this and exceeded 2.25… this is a clear continuation of a policy of deliberate depreciation of GEL.”
- Sozar Subari: “When a person responsible for the stability of the national currency appears on television every day, making the kinds of statements which generate fears in the public that the national currency will depreciate, it will definitely depreciate and depreciate very much. With this, of course, he is facilitating the devaluation of GEL.”
- Tamaz Mechiauri: “The stability of the GEL exchange rate is not in the interests of the President of the National Bank of Georgia. On the contrary, he practically called on the population to buy more USD, saying that GEL will depreciate even more in autumn. He could have prevented public panic through a simple intervention.”
- Tamaz Mechiauri: “It is our fault that he allows himself to do this much. Back in the day when the situation could be remedied, it was not done. He was, is and will remain a lapdog of Mr Adeishvili. His statements are almost comical and are not to be taken seriously.”
- Gogi Topadze: “Fortunately, our President of the National Bank (Giorgi Kadagidze) is running out of his tenure and the reasons for such fluctuations in the GEL exchange rate will be revealed after he has left. The new President will probably find better ways to keep the national currency stable. I did criticise him as well because we all saw the data that instead of selling foreign currency to strengthen GEL, he was putting hundreds of millions of GEL on auction.”
- Mikheil Dundua: “The exchange rate started strengthening precisely after 25 February. After this, we have witnessed a gradual but significant strengthening of GEL… this once again confirms the fact that the GEL exchange rate under Kadagidze reflected political factors and anxiety which were in play. After the political pressure from Mr Kadagidze was removed, the exchange rate started strengthening sharply.”
- Tamaz Mechiauri: “I was saying all this time that Mr Kadagidze posed a danger and that his presence prevented the strengthening of GEL. He is gone now and what a coincidence right? Why are you now not praising me for being smart and predicting it?”
