On October 23, just three days before the crucial elections for the parliamentary, the ruling Georgian Dream Party held a rally in Tbilisi to conclude its regional tour. The majority of the crowd was bussed in from all over the country. Bidzina, the billionaire patron of the ruling party and GD leader, addressed the rally and encouraged their supporters to vote in favor of the Georgian Dream.
The bill’s coauthors, Senators Jeanne Shaheen of NH and Jim Risch of ID, announced on October 22 that ten additional Senators would cosponsor it. They have asked to join the bill at the Senate’s November reconvening. “I’m happy that a number my Senate colleagues have recognized the urgency of the Georgian People’s Act and have agreed to co-sponsor it in the U.S. Senate,” stated Senator Shaheen.
Transparency International Georgia has released an updated version to its “Corruption Map” revealing that companies linked to Georgian Dream officials, and party founder Bidzina Ilvanisvili, have won over GEL 3.280 Billion in state tenders across Georgia. Of this amount, almost a third (more than GEL 1.130 Billion) was received by these companies in 2024. Watchdog believes the corruption situation in Georgia is getting worse, especially in the region.
Ray Baseley, a Czech journalist, was denied entry into Georgia. He posted the information on his social media, and a photo of the document that was given to him by border police. The document stated that he had been denied entry due to “other cases provided by Georgian law.” Baseley covered the protests in Georgia against the Foreign Agents Law a few months back.
The final pre-election Gorbi survey, commissioned today by pro-government Imedi TV and predicting a confident win for the ruling Georgian Dream Party with 60,2 percent of votes, was released today. Today, opposition-leaning Formula TV and Mtavari arkhi TVs published final pre-election surveys by Edison Research and Savanta. The results were dramatically different and showed that the opposition dominated the race. You can read more about these and other election developments in our Election 2024 live blog.
The Data of the Day
The Monetary Policy Committee of National Bank of Georgia (NBG), on October 23, decided to maintain the main refinancing rates at 8%. The NBG notes the inflation has been below the 3% target ever since the start of the year. The NBG stresses that its monetary policies, with their timely tightening, and gradual normalization has helped stabilize long-term expectations of inflation, especially for goods produced domestically.
The National Bank of Georgia has sold USD 60,000,000 in a foreign currency auction. The NBG sold international reserves to prevent the national currency depreciating. This is the third occasion the NBG did so. The NBG sold international reserves to “prevent the excessive influence of nonfundamental factors, and the typically characteristic frenzy in the pre-election phase.”
Read More @ civil.ge