I don’t believe that we need central banking, monetary policy or our national monetary unit. Without this, we can’t avoid two essential problems – politicization of the monetary politics and also its competitiveness. But by saying this I do not wish to imply that in this particular case of devaluation of the lari the central banking system was the major problem. Quite the opposite.

Georgia’s economic story after the collapse of the Soviet Union (SU) is important to be considered and analyzed in Georgia and in any developing and transition economy nations. There are several reasons why Georgia’s experience is interesting and valuable. First of all, it shows almost all the wrong sides of central planning and a centralized, bureaucratized and command economic system.

While EU and US sanctions against Russia over its aggression in Ukraine, and Russia’s counter-sanctions, are much discussed due to their evident political significance, less attention has been given to Russia’s punitive sanctions against the three Eastern European states–Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia – that have signed with the EU Association Agreements (AA), which include Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) provisions.