The new owner plans to turn the building into a shopping mall, an entertainment venue, or an office building.

The central bank said it was ready to raise the rate in the future if a more significant increase in inflationary pressures.

State-run Georgian Railway plans to use the proceeds from the issuance to refinance its existing 7.75 percent senior unsecured $500 million notes.

The IMF agreed a $5 billion standby arrangement with Kyiv a year ago and quickly disbursed $2.1 billion, but subsequent tranches have been withheld.

It was clear during the six-week onslaught by Baku last year that Moscow was no longer unilaterally calling the shots. And it demonstrated how NATO member Ankara’s 25-year effort to help Azerbaijan build its army from the ground up effectively was successful.