On 16 March, the Georgian national currency, the lari, hit a record low against the US dollar after falling to 3.0118 and 3.3684 to the Euro, reported agenda.ge.

To control the lari’s changing value against the US dollar, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) sold $20 million at foreign exchange auction on 13 March. The weighted average exchange rate was 2.9936 Lari for every 1 USD.

The NBG also released a statement stating that the recent depreciation of the lari exchange rate was linked to uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak. It has been transmitted to the financial markets through the channel of expectation. Besides the coronavirus, the NBG says that another reason for the depreciation of the lari is the decline in international oil prices.

The NBG said that the main task would be now to maintain price stability in Georgia and to keep a low rate of inflation.

Speaking on the coronavirus situation in the country, Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said that the country was moving to the stage of in-country spread of the novel coronavirus and the number of patients is likely increase.

Additional restrictions were adopted in the country in order to combat the spread of the virus: movement of minibuses was banned in Tbilisi, the functioning of sports and spa centers was banned, the Ministry of Economy, the Georgian Post and the Ministry of Health were assigned to devise a joint mechanism that will assist pensioners over the age of 70 as well as socially vulnerable persons during the self-isolation period. 

The current tally of infected persons in Georgia is 34.