Roman Gotsiridze | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Parliament of Georgia | |
| Assumed office 18 November 2016 | |
| In office 22 April 2004 – 22 March 2005 | |
| In office 4 November 1992 – 3 December 1992 | |
| In office 14 November 1990 – 2 January 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Creation |
| Succeeded by | Vacancy |
| Constituency | Didube |
| Chairman of the UNM Faction in Parliament | |
| In office 20 January 2017 – 11 December 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Nika Melia |
| Succeeded by | Khatia Dekanoidze |
| President of the National Bank of Georgia | |
| In office 22 March 2005 – 30 September 2007 | |
| President | Mikheil Saakashvili |
| Preceded by | Irakli Managadze |
| Succeeded by | David Amaglobeli |
| Deputy Prime Minister | |
| In office 3 December 1992 – 1993 | |
| Prime Minister | Tengiz Sigua |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 16, 1955 Gali, Abkhaz ASSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Republican Party (2004-2005) United National Movement (2005-2023) Independent (2023-) |
| Alma mater | Tbilisi State University |
| Occupation | Economist |
Roman Gotsiridze (Georgian: რომან გოცირიძე; born on December 16, 1955) is a Georgian economist and politician. He has served as a member of Parliament in 1990–1992, 1992, 2004–2005, and since 2016, as well as Deputy Prime Minister in 1992–1993 and President of the National Bank of Georgia in 2005–2007.
One of Georgia's longest-standing politicians, Roman Gotsiridze first joined the country's Supreme Council during the first post-Soviet elections of 1990, being elected as Representative of the Didube District as a member of Zviad Gamsakhurdia's Round Table-Free Georgia coalition, and was a signatory of the April 1991 declaration of independence. After the government's overthrow in 1992, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of Tengiz Sigua and was put in charge of the government's economic portfolio. His term was marked by an economic collapse caused by the fall of the USSR and the Georgian Civil War and Gotsiridze secured Georgia's first international loans and rolled out the kuponi, the first national currency.
In opposition to the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze, he joined the Republican Party and was elected to Parliament in 2004 after the Rose Revolution. A year later, he was appointed as President of the National Bank of Georgia, focusing his term on increasing foreign currency reserves, increasing international banking presence in Georgia, fighting off the growing Russian financial presence in Abkhazia, and curtailing inflation. His failure to keep the inflation rate below 10% has been attributed as a reason behind his resignation in 2005.
In 2016, Roman Gotsiridze returned to the political scene by being elected to the Parliament as a member of the United National Movement. When the party split following the creation of European Georgia, he became the leader of UNM's parliamentary faction, making him the highest-ranking opposition leader in the legislature. He oversaw his party's struggle against the Georgian Dream-led government, including in its response to the adoption of a new constitution in 2018, the 2019-2020 political crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He was reelected to Parliament in 2020 but refused to accept his seat and boycotted the legislature until May 2021.
In February 2023, he left UNM and has since remained as an independent MP.