The dollar in Georgia
The US dollar is the foreign currency Georgians use most: savings and loans in foreign currency are mostly in dollars, and the dollar rate is the number people mean when they ask how the lari is doing. The official USD rate is the weighted average of the day’s deals between banks on the interbank market; the National Bank publishes it at about 17:00 for the following day.
Every bank and exchange office quotes the dollar, and competition keeps the gap between buy and sell rates narrow — at exchange offices often about one tetri. Even so, the best and the worst offer of the day differ enough to matter on a larger amount, so compare before you exchange.
