The Public Defender welcomes the decision[1] to reduce the interest rate on loans taken by pensioners before 2023,[2] which the Public Defender had requested in the proposal sent to the National Bank.

On January 8, 2024, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the National Bank of Georgia with a proposal to develop a resolution/instruction by which JSC Liberty Bank would refinance/restructure the monetary liability of the beneficiary pensioners and make it possible to return to the conditions existing before the postponement of loans due to the spread of coronavirus and the old payment schedule.

In addition, the Public Defender demanded that all measures be taken to automatically recalculate pensioners' overdraft agreements and adapt them to the new, low-interest conditions effective from 2023.

According to the National Bank,[3] financial organizations were given a written instruction on the possibility of returning to the old payment schedule and on the provision of information to the loan beneficiaries in writing about the payment schedule. As for the interest recalculation, according to information posted on the website of the Administration of the Government, more than 150,000 pensioners who took a loan before 2023 will have their loan interest rate reduced and it will equal the interest rate established in 2023.

The Public Defender follows the mentioned process and hopes that in the shortest possible time the interest rates will be brought in line with the interest rate established from 2023 for all pensioners.

[1] Information available at: https://www.interpressnews.ge/ka/article/788859-150-000-ze-met-pensioners-

sesxis-procenti-sheumcirdeba [last accessed: 23.02.2024].

[2]From January 1, 2023, the maximum interest rate on pension loans was set at 26%.

[3]Letter No. 2-18/220 of the National Bank of Georgia of January 29, 2024.