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Demand for dollars decreases fivefold in Azerbaijan

Economy Materials 11 June 2016 17:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

In January-April 2016, as much as $1.19 billion in cash was purchased in Azerbaijan, which is 5.4 times less than for four months of 2015 ($6.5 billion), according to the report of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

At the same time, the volume of foreign exchange operations in the country in January-April 2016 exceeded $1.2 billion (a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year), according to the report.

During the same period, as much as 191.5 million euros, 12.5 million pounds and 716.2 million rubles were purchased in Azerbaijan. Compared to the four months of 2015, the demand for the euro decreased by 2.3 times (430.7 million euros), for the pounds - almost doubled (23.4 million pounds) for the rubles - by 28.4 percent (one billion rubles).

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan devaluated manat on Feb.21, as a result of which the exchange rate of manat dropped by almost 34 percent and stood at 1.05 manats per US dollar. Following this, the CBA switched to the floating rate of manat on Dec.21, as a result of which the exchange rate of dollar and euro increased by 47.6 percent and 47.9 percent and stood at 1.55 and 1.685 manats, respectively. As a result, manat's rate against the US dollar dropped by 97.6 percent throughout 2015.

Instability of the national currency caused a decline in confidence in the manat and Azerbaijan's population started to exchange their manat savings to foreign currencies, mainly US dollars. As a result, some $12.3 billion (annual growth of 31.27 percent) were purchased in the country in 2015, as well as nearly 1.1 billion euros, 64.1 million pounds and almost 2.4 billion rubles.

Also, some 117.78 million euros were sold in Azerbaijan in January-April 2016 against 128 million euros in four months of 2015, as well as 1.7 million pounds against 954,500 pounds, and 2.96 billion rubles against 2.48 billion rubles.

Currency exchange in Azerbaijan is possible only in branches and offices of banks. Azerbaijan has 37 banks, which have more than 700 branches and nearly 160 offices.

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