Georgian President Appoints New Chief of National Bank

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Koba Gvenetadze, who joined the board of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) earlier this month, has been appointed as the new President of NBG.

The seven-member board of NBG chose Gvenetadze as the head of the top bank in Georgia and the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has since approved his candidacy.

Gvenetadze replaces Giorgi Kadagidze, whose seven-year term expired late February.

PM Margvelashvili emphasized that the new President of the NBG will preserve the position necessary for the country’s economic development.

Gvenetadze was approved as the new member of the NBG board by Parliament on March 2 after being nominated by President Margvelashvili.

On Tuesday, Gvenetadze met with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili to present a four-point plan, which includes development of the capital market, pension reform and strategic partnership with international finance institutions.

Gvenetadze says that the best way to keep inflation stable and low is communication between society and economic agents- something which he believes must be implemented.

Before joining IMF, Gvenetadze served in various posts in the Georgian government and was Deputy Finance Minister. From early 2008 to late 2009 he served as IMF resident representative in Azerbaijan and was IMF resident representative in Kyrgyzstan in 2010-2014.

During the parliamentary committee hearings, Gvenetadze indicated that he was more in favor of keeping the financial supervisory agency within the NBG rather than removing it, as in July 2015, the Georgian parliament passed a bill to remove the banking supervisory function from the country’s main Bank and transfer it to a separate agency.

Tamar Svanidze