Georgia: Finance Minister, National Bank chair meets executive director of IMF in US to discuss issues of fiscal, monetary policy

The Finance Minister of Georgia, Lasha Khutsishvili and the head of the country’s National Bank, Koba Gvenetadze, within the framework of the visit to the US, held meetings with Paul Hilbers, the executive director of the International Monetary Fund; Jihad Azour, the director of the Middle East and Central Asia department of IMF; and Vítor Gaspar, the director of the IMF fiscal affairs department.

The Finance Minister also held a meeting with Shixin Chen, the vice president of the Asian Development Bank and Katarina Mathernova, the deputy director-general for EU neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations, as per the Georgian finance ministry.

During the discussions with the IMF executive director Hilbers, the partnership between Georgia and the fund to support the nation’s macroeconomic stability as well as structural reforms was highlighted while also discussing the fiscal as well as monetary policy issues for the 2022-2023 and the medium-term period.

The progress which has been acquired by Georgia during 2021 and 2022, against the background of the reduction of the global economic growth forecast by the IMF, was discussed by Gvenetadze, Khutsishvili and Azour, and it was emphasised that it provided the basis for the nation to maintain the positive dynamics of economic growth in the future.

During the meeting with the director of fiscal affairs, the discussion also highlighted the matters of cooperation between the IMF and the finance ministry in the direction of public finance accounting, transparency and accountability, financial risk management, and tax and customs administration.

Lasha Khutsishvili and Shixin Chen also talked about the cooperation as well as the progress of projects which the bank supports, both in the public as well as private sectors, while also addressing the present scenario in the Georgian economy and the existing and planned fiscal parameters.

Among these challenges to the nation and the whole world, the inflation and raised prices for energy resources and oil were reviewed by the officials, voicing hope to persist in the collaboration in executing both structural as well as economic reforms.