The National Bank of Georgia has released a statement regarding the national currency exchange rate. As it is said in the statement, the “society is well aware that there is a floating exchange rate regime in Georgia. The exchange rate is affected by various internal and external factors, including expectations.

"Accordingly, information about the expected reduction of tourist flows from Russia in the recent days have impact on the currency market.

At this stage, it is difficult to make accurate predictions, but according to the initial calculations, the reduction of tourist flows from Russia will affect the Georgian economy by USD 200-300 million during the rest of the year. This foreign shock is reflected on the balance sheet and, therefore, on the currency exchange rate. However, it should be taken into consideration that according to the data of the Q1 Current Account, it has been improved by about two-fold (USD 207 million) compared to the Current Account of Q1, 2018. It means that under the other equal terms, including taking the Russian factor into consideration, the external balance will be slightly better than expected,” the NBG said.