Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7
Trend:
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has announced about a decrease in the discount rate by 0.25 percent, Trend reports referring to the CBA.
The discount rate decreased from 8.75 percent to 8.5 percent.
Among the factors to substantiate its decision, the CBA points to the situation with the inflation rate in the country, favorable external conditions and new macroeconomic expectations.
According to the CBA report, the 12-month inflation target was 3.1 percent in April 2019. There was the rise in prices for food and services (3.5 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively) within the target range.
The prices for non-food items increased by 1.4 percent in May. There was a great decrease in food prices in the consumer basket under the influence of seasonal factors.
According to the CBA, the export of goods increased by 25.4 percent, including export of non-oil goods - by 19.9 percent, trade surplus - $2.5 billion during the first four months.
The country's strategic currency reserves increased by 6.2 percent up to $47.5 billion compared to early 2019. Oil prices have risen by 24 percent since the beginning of the year.
The real interest rates remain positive, which neutralizes the external and internal inflation risks.
This is the fourth reduction in the CBA discount rate this year. Since early 2019, it has decreased on February 1 (from 9.75 percent to 9.25 percent), on March 15 (9.25 percent to 9 percent) and on April 26 (from 9 percent to 8.75 percent).
The bank will consider this issue once again on July 26.