According to the Kutaisi branch of the National Bank of Georgia, the main sources of income generation in Imereti region during the previous year were industrial sector, budget, bank loans, and remittances for individuals and legal entities. The importance of foreign remittances in the region’s social and economic life is becoming greater.  According to the commercial bank branch network located in the Imereti region, the volume of the funds transferred from Russia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, US, and other countries via Western Union, MoneyGram and other money transfer systems equaled to GEL 142, 079 million (equivalent in the foreign currency), exceeding the 2003 indicator by 60%. Notably, the volume of money transfers exceeds the budget revenue indicator by GEL 46 million, and the total budget expenditures of the Imereti region – by even more, GEL 80.6 million. The budget expenditures per capita in the previous year amounted to nearly GEL 87 while the foreign remittances equaled to GEL 203. In a situation of low income, the large part of the money transfers is usually spent on current needs of the region’s population. This is further proved by the fact that 70% of the foreign currency of individuals was exchanged to the national currency. Lending in the Region According to the Kutaisi branch of the National Bank of Georgia, the total volume of the goods and services produced in the Imereti region during 2004 amounted to GEL 308 506 million, and the size of the loans issued in that period equaled to GEL 42 447. In other words, the region’s economy generated the goods and services worth of average 9 lari on each 1 lari lent by the banking sector. Loan outturn is very different by fields of economy. Per Kutaisi branch of the National Bank of Georgia, the region’s economy generated the goods worth of 32,5 lari on each 1 lari lent by the banks to the industry sector (for comparison, the 2003 indicator was 15,7 lari). The return on loans issued to transport and communication sector was very high in the reporting period: 1 lari of loan to 110 lari of production. The return indicator for trade and services, the largest debtor of the banking sector, accounting for 38% of banking loans, has been stable for several years, around 10-11%.