The Budget and Finance Committee heard the “2025 Annual Report of the National Bank of Georgia” presented by the NB President, Natia Turnava.

The report covered a review of monetary, foreign exchange, and supervisory policy, as well as audited financial statements.

According to Natia Turnava, average annual inflation in 2025 stood at 3.9%, moderately above the target rate of 3%. However, indicators reflecting long-term inflation expectations, such as core inflation and services inflation, remained below 3% throughout the year.

“Core inflation averaged 2.2% in 2025. In the services sector, where price changes tend to be more rigid, inflation averaged 2.7%. This indicates that, as a result of the monetary policy implemented by the National Bank, inflation expectations remained stable and inflationary processes were less broad-based”, - she stated.

According to her, after peaking at 5.2% in October 2025, inflation followed a steady downward trend. Annual inflation stood at 4.8% in January 2026 and declined to 4.3% by March.

“Following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, global oil prices increased on international markets, which also drove up local fuel prices and contributed an additional 0.8 percentage points to April inflation. As a result of the combined direct and indirect effects of this supply shock, overall inflation in April deviated from the 3% target and reached 5.9%. Nevertheless, indicators of relatively sticky prices remain close to the target level. Specifically, core inflation stood at 3.2%, while services inflation reached 3.7% in April”, - Natia Turnava noted.

She also stated that, in order to support financial stability, the National Bank continues to work actively on reducing dollarization.

According to her, as of March 2026, loan dollarization had decreased by 0.7 percentage points compared to the end of 2024, reaching 42.5%.

“Deposit dollarization is also declining, largely reflecting increased confidence in the Georgian lari. Specifically, as of March 2026, deposit dollarization had decreased by 5.6 percentage points compared to 2024, reaching 46.6%”, - she said.

Turnava further noted that, in 2025, the National Bank updated certain responsible lending requirements in order to improve access to mortgage loans.

The President of the National Bank also emphasized the resilience of the banking sector, noting that the share of non-performing loans is at a historic low and that the credit portfolio is diversified across sectors.

According to Turnava, nearly 80% of disputes reviewed in 2025 by the Dispute Resolution Commission operating under the National Bank were resolved in favor of consumers. As a result, providers reimbursed consumers with more than 400,000 GEL in total.

She explained that the Dispute Resolution Commission is an independent body that reviews disputes free of charge between consumers and payment service providers, including banks.

“In 2025, the Commission received 158 complaints. Of these, 111 complaints were accepted for review, with the total value of disputed claims exceeding one million GEL. Seventy-eight percent of resolved disputes were decided in favor of consumers. Within the framework of the Commission’s activities, the amount already reimbursed or transferred reached 412,000 GEL”, - the speaker stated.

She also discussed last year’s activities in the field of consumer rights protection. A market conduct supervision strategy was approved, improving access to information for the public and other stakeholders regarding the National Bank’s vision, priorities, and plans in this area. In addition, the existing legislative framework was refined.

“Furthermore, in order to strengthen competition and consumer protection, from May 1, 2025, the maximum early repayment fee for refinancing loans was reduced from 2% to 0.5% for individuals and legal entities with liabilities of up to 2 million GEL. As a result of these changes, the cost of transferring liabilities from one financial institution to another has decreased, encouraging stronger competition among financial organizations and offering consumers more favorable conditions”, - Natia Turnava stated.

She then answered questions from Members of Parliament.

According to the Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, Paata Kvizhinadze, the National Bank is currently in a strong position in every direction.

“The exchange rate of the lari is stable. Foreign reserves have exceeded USD 6 billion and meet established international standards. So-called problematic loans, an important indicator for the banking sector, are at a very low level of 2.6%. In 2012, this figure stood at 12%, while in 2020 it was 8–9%. This is an excellent indicator and complies with European standards. I would especially like to highlight deposits. Ten years ago, the total volume of deposits — including both individual and corporate accounts in banks — amounted to 14.4 billion GEL. Today, this figure has reached 66.95 billion GEL, with private individuals and legal entities represented in almost equal shares. The structure of deposits has also improved. Over the past ten years, dollarization has decreased from 71.7% to 47.8%, which is a very positive result”, - Paata Kvizhinadze stated.