On 28 May in the grand hall of National Bank of Georgia Limited Scope Grant Agreement was signed between National Bank of Georgia presented by it’s president Giorgi Kadagidze and International Development Agency of United States of America presented by US Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft .

The Agreement aims at support for instruments development necessary for bank sector management. Particularly, Georgian Payments and Securities System (GPSS) and Banking Systems for the Central Bank (BSCB) purchase and adoption facilitation.

This assistance marks a continuation of a long relationship with the National Bank.  Through USAID and other U.S. Government agencies, we have worked to strengthen the National Bank of Georgia as an institution capable of leading Georgia to a strong, market-based economy – President of National Bank of Georgia Giorgi Kadagidze pointed out. He also declared that projected implemented with the support of Development Agency of USA shall improve the infrastructure of National Bank of Georgia, shall make National Bank more effective and secure it from external perils; at the same time shall increase daily operations transparency and accountability within National Bank of Georgia infrastructure as well as for the other customers of this system throughout the Country.

Georgian Payment and Settlement System(GPSS) includes contemporary safety components; it is fast and easy-to-use. This system enables for cash flow to move even in case of bank sector crisis situations, to issue salaries, pensions and to implement various liabilities under different contracts. Banking System for the Central Bank (BSCB) consists of two sub-systems: An Accounting System and an Investment Management System. National Bank of Georgia separately ensures accounting system management. This system shall operate in accordance with the international standards and shall be completely integrated into the other systems of National Bank of Georgia.

Bank’s international reserves capacity and operations amount increase, also financial accountability international standards requirements resulted in the adoption of such kind of program. In fact, similar programs operate in almost every central bank. Bank sector includes so called investments management program that mainly consists of  automation of operations related to international reserves management. After such system adoption necessarily of data manual inflow and paper documents circulation are diminished. Consequently operational risks shall be reduced; operability and efficiency shall be increased. Investments planning, portfolio management, risks evaluation, international settlement, accountability conduction, budget planning and financial accountability preparation shall be performed through the program.  

The amount of assistance allocated by USAID for the activity performance under Agreement consists of USD 3,290,000. National Bank of Georgia on its behalf shall allocated not less than USD 500,000 for the mentioned tasks implementation.