Today, in connection with the emission of the upgraded Lari banknotes, the Governor of the National Bank of Georgia invited the media representatives to the Cash Center of the NBG and presented them the new banknotes.

"Today we have finished a very important process, a result of three year work. As you may be aware, today upgraded 20 and 50 Lari banknotes are released into circulation. In several months a new 100 Lari note will be issued, followed by the 5 and 10 lari notes in the beginning of the next year. In relation to the release of the upgraded notes I'd like to clarify several important issues. Firstly, the old banknotes will remain in parallel circulation with the upgraded ones. The old banknotes will be withdrawn from the circulation as a result of wear-and-tear and over time will be completely replaced by the upgraded notes.

The upgraded banknotes represent a significant improvement both from design and technological point of view. An important detail is that the upgraded notes contain features for the visually impaired. It should also be mentioned that the banknote replacement process does not create additional costs since given the new technologies the printing cost of the upgraded banknotes is lower than that for the old banknotes. This is a first major upgrade of the Lari design during its 20-year history.

In general, modification and novelty are always connected to positive expectations. Regrettably, our country is still very poor by European standards, and a large share of our population still does not have decent living conditions, however I would like to use this opportunity and to wish our citizens prosperity. We face many challenges, but I believe we will overcome all of them.