Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
Azerbaijani manat gradually regains its fundamental value, the country’s president’s aide on economic reforms, Natig Amirov, said June 21 in Baku.
He made the remarks during the “Social business – way leading to development” conference.
He said that due to negative developments in the global economy, Azerbaijan’s national currency devaluation was inevitable.
There were two devaluations in Azerbaijan in 2015 – in February and December. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan devaluated the 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.
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 manats and 1.685 manats, respectively. As a result, manat’s rate against the US dollar dropped by 97.6 percent throughout 2015.
“The negative impact of the processes taking place in the global financial markets on the banking sector of the country and the investments to Azerbaijan made the manat devaluation necessary to preserve the competitiveness of non-oil sector of the country,” Amirov said.
However, at present, the national currency has stabilized, he added.
“Stabilization is observed in Azerbaijan’s foreign currency market as a result of targeted measures,” Amirov said.
This stabilization is also a reason for decline in demand for foreign currency, which has been recently going on in Azerbaijan.
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.
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).
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.