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Wednesday,
August 1,
2007, #145 (1412) After the parliamentary majority laid into the annual report presented in June by Roman Gotsiridze, the president of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), rumors began to fly that Gotsiridze would soon be out of a job. No resignation came to promptly pass, and the hubbub petered out. Last week, however, gossip flared again as Rustavi 2 broadcast a report that the NBG president penned a letter of resignation. Gotsiridze denied any impending resignation; government representatives neither confirmed nor denied the claim. The NBG president took flak from politicians for, they said, not acting soon enough on inflation. Some ruling MPs told Gotsiridze his Bank should have acted two or three months before it did, before going on to discuss his reportedly generous salary. The ruling party attack on the appointee seemed to catch the opposition off-guard, and media quickly surmised that Gotsiridze's days were numbered. Speculation moved onto possible successors to the position, and the eventual pick's policy decisions. According to the newspaper Akhali Taoba, the parliamentary opposition's favored theory is that Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli will take over from Gotsiridze, and Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, Education Minister Kakha Lomaia, or former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili will replace Noghaideli as prime minister. Eager pundits look
forward to fall, predicted as the season for a government reshuffle.
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Will Gotsiridze
stay on as National Bank president?