Page 48 - GEORptOct21

39bp, or well below the guided FY21 level of 100-130bp.
"TBC’s CET1, T1 and Total CAR were 1.8-2.0pp above the NBG minimum requirement. Together with strong profitability, that offers comfort over the payment of a first interim dividend at GEL 1.48 (5% DY) on 17 September 2021 (cut-off date 20 August 2021)."
TBC’s performance was in line with the Group’s medium-term targets, while lower than expected CoR and the one-off gain imply upside risks to VTB's FY21 estimates. "We note the solid underlying operating performance and rapid growth of Uzbek operations (Payme’s total transaction volumes doubled YoY to GEL 1.2bn)," VTB said.
8.2 Central Bank policy rate
Gerogia’s central bank leaves policy rate unchanged at 10%
Georgia’s central bank left its refinancing rate unchanged at 10% following a meeting of its monetary policy committee on September 15.
Georgia’s annual inflation, at 12.8% in August, was higher than expected. The driving forces of high inflation are still predominately one-off and independent from monetary policy. According to preliminary estimates, the contribution of such exogenous factors to headline inflation is about nine percentage points, the NBG said.
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has increased the refinancing rate by 0.5 percentage points to 10 per cen on August 4, citing “temporary” factors. Georgia’s annual inflation came out unexpectedly high in comparison with last year and amounted to 11.9 per cent in July, the NBG stated.
The NBG reported that various factors contributed to high inflation, such as:
● sharply increased prices of food and oil in international markets
● significantly increased international shipping costs, which affects the
prices of imported goods
The short-term inflation forecast has increased considerably compared to the previous forecasts, and it is expected that inflation in 2021 on average will be higher than 9 per cent,” the statement of NBG reads.
NGO Society and Banks stated that 140,100 loans tied to floating interest rates remain active as of July 1, 2021, which means that the prices of these loans may grow as well because of the increased refinancing rate.
The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee will be held on September 15, 2021.
48 GEORGIA Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com