With an initiative of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), next round of discussions has been held with commercial bank representatives. Detailed information was prepared by MOF on the macroeconomic indicators and execution of State and Consolidated Budget.

H.E. Nodar Khaduri, Minister of Finance of Georgia and Deputy Ministers, Mr. Azim Sadikov, Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr. Archil Mestvirishvili, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) and Mr. Giorgi Gakharia, Business Ombudsman attended the meeting.

Commercial bankers thus got exposed to the information on past and planned expenditures from the budget in the current year. MOF focused on the well distributed and equal spending throughout the year. Information has also been provided on the surplus revenues in August-September 2015, which greatly exceeded the projections.

Projections prepared by the MOF, NBG and commercial banks were reviewed at the meeting. They related to all the factors affecting the exchange rate of GEL. Positions of parties have been cleared and agreed. Improvement of all budget parameters affecting the exchange rate are presently expected on the grounds of the available projections.

It is worth noting that impact of the State Budget on the inflow of foreign currency in 2015 is solely positive. Namely, as of today inflow of foreign currency to the State Budget exceeds the outflow by 81 MLN USD. The referred indicator will go beyond 190 MLN USD by the end of the year. All of this indicates at no impact of the fiscal sector on the exchange rate of the national currency till the end of the year.

It is important to note that MOF reduced the projected budget deficit indicator to 3% and it is not planned to increase it any further in 2016 either.

With an initiative of MOF, additional consultations will be held also on measures planned for the development of the securities market.

It was agreed at the meeting that such communication will become regular to make sure that banking sector has timely information on the current developments in the fiscal sector and to exchange information on the projections and vision on the economic growh of the country.

Commercial banks will be among the first to know the main parameters of the State Budget for 2016 to get information from the prime source on the programs planned by the Government of Georgia.