NBG President meet IMF Regional Director in Thailand

As part of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Thailand, National Bank of Georgia (NBG) President Natia Turnava and Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili, accompanied by a delegation, met with Jihad Azour, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, the National Bank of Georgia said.

According to the NBG, the meeting focused on Georgia’s fiscal and monetary policies, the macroeconomic situation and cooperation with the IMF.

The sides noted that, amid the current regional situation, Georgia’s macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong thanks to stable fiscal and monetary policies, while the country’s external position has improved significantly in recent years.

The meeting also addressed inflation figures. As of September 2026, annual inflation stood at 5.6%, core inflation at 3.5% and services inflation at 3.7%, indicating that underlying inflationary pressures remain relatively moderate.

The NBG emphasized that the deviation from the inflation target is largely attributable to supply-side shocks, particularly rising energy prices resulting from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

“Our priority is to prevent these shocks from spreading more broadly into domestic inflation through inflation expectations and second-round effects. More persistent measures of inflation remain below headline inflation. The medium-term outlook continues to depend on geopolitical developments and risks related to commodity prices,” Turnava said.

According to the NBG, the meeting also highlighted the central bank’s policy of accumulating international reserves. The improvement in the adequacy of Georgia’s international reserves in 2026 was positively assessed, with reserves reaching 128.7% of the level considered adequate under the IMF’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) methodology.

The sides noted that reserve accumulation had been supported by the resilience of Georgia’s economy, an improved external balance and continued inflows of financial resources. The NBG added that its reserve accumulation policy had also become an important factor in assessments by international credit rating agencies.

NBG Vice Presidents Ekaterine Mikabadze, Ekaterine Galdava and Nino Jeladze, as well as Deputy Finance Minister Ekaterine Guntsadze, also attended the meeting.