Georgia's central bank resorts to more greenbacks sale to solidify its currency

The National Bank of Georgia, the central bank of Georgia, on Tuesday put an extra batch of 40 million U.S. dollars at a foreign currency auction in a bid to curb lari, the Georgian currency, from further depreciation.

It was the third round of the central bank's sales of U.S. dollar reserves done to support the lari and prevent it from further plunge in value, according to a document posted at the bank's website.

The Georgian currency has lost up to 29 percent of its value against U.S. dollar and 16 percent against euro since early November when the lari started depreciation. Lari lost up to 3 percent of its value against U.S. dollar late Tuesday afternoon, the biggest single-day fall since September 2004, said the document. Lari fell to 2.2619 per U.S. dollar from 2.1971 per U.S. dollar in the day.

The central bank injected the market with 80 million U.S. dollars in the past two weeks.

Giorgi Kadagidze, governor and chairman of the board of the National Bank of Georgia, also hinted a possible new increase in interest rates in a bid to lend greater support for the national currency. Endite