The lari faced little pressure during the fourth quarter of 2010. The NBG sold a total of US$197m worth of foreign currency in the second quarter of 2010, but bought US$21m of foreign currency in the third quarter and US$95m in the fourth quarter, which helped to boost foreign-currency reserves to an all-time high of US$2.26bn at the end of 2010, compared with US$1.87bn at the end of the first half of the year. The losses to foreign-currency reserves that occurred in the aftermath of the war with Russia have been reversed, although this is partly the result of IMF support.

At the end of February 2011 the exchange rate was Lari1.76:US$1, essentially unchanged from Lari1.77:US$1 at the end of December 2010. The real exchange rate against the US dollar strengthened in the final quarter of 2010, rising by 5.2% year on year at the end of January 2011, following losses earlier in the year. However, the lari depreciated against the euro from Lari2.3:EUR1 at the end of November 2010 to Lari2.42:EUR1 at the end of February 2011. The lari's real effective exchange rate (REER), calculated by the NBG from data on trade with Georgia's 12 main trading partners, appreciated by 4.1% year on year at the end of January 2011.

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