C.Bank Sells Dollar as GEL Falls Further

Georgian currency lari (GEL) lost up to 3% of its value against U.S. dollar late on Tuesday afternoon, the biggest single-day fall since September, 2004.

GEL fell to 2.2619 per U.S. dollar from 2.1971.

The Georgian central bank said it sold USD 40 million at a foreign currency auction on Tuesday. It sold the same amount of dollar twice this year – on February 11 and then again on February 19.

Since early November, when GEL started depreciation, the Georgian currency lost up to 29% of its value against U.S. dollar and 16% against euro.

Earlier on Tuesday opposition UNM party appealed President Giorgi Margvelashvili to convene a special session of the Parliament for February 27, where PM Irakli Garibashvili would be summoned to discuss “ways out of this crisis situation.” The President has yet to respond.

GD parliamentary majority leader, MP Davit Saganelidze, said that with the parliamentary debates, UNM wants to “stage a show”. “There is no time for that,” he said.