BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 28
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) are increasing the availability of Georgian lari (GEL) to private companies in a joint move to support businesses suffering from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Trend reports referring to EBRD.
As reported, the two institutions have set up a US-lari foreign exchange (FX) swap facility, enabling the EBRD to secure reliable access to lari liquidity and continue lending in local currency to firms that are experiencing temporary difficulties.
The parties executed the first transaction on 24 April 2020.
“The foreign exchange swap line also supports the management of NBG FX reserves with additional US dollar liquidity, which the central bank can draw on when needed,” EBRD said.
As reported, last week, EBRD expanded its response and recovery program addressing the coronavirus crisis and it plans to invest up 21 billion euros in the two years ahead in this initiative. The package includes a 4-billion euro Resilience Framework for existing clients, offering liquidity support, short-term working capital and trade finance.
EBRD emphasized that it was also ready to deploy its capacity to provide local currency lending
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a leading institutional investor in Georgia. Since the start of its operations in the country, the Bank has invested over 3.7 billion euro in 249 projects in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 87 percent of these investments in the private sector.
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