Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.25
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Opinions that the appreciation of the dollar will harm investors of Azerbaijani banks are absolutely groundless, Speaker Oktay Asadov said at a plenary session of the Milli Majlis (parliament) of Azerbaijan.
He said that firstly, more than 50 percent of deposits in the country account for deposits in dollars. "Secondly, I officially state that the banks traded 2 billion manats, and earlier - two and a half billion manats for the last week, that is, banks have created this opportunity," said the speaker.
The speaker also noted that experts in the field of macroeconomic policy could also express their opinions on this occasion. "Azerbaijan has foreign exchange reserves, however, the rate of manat has been saved as far as possible and it will be maintained in the future as well. Azerbaijan lives in a state of war. One has to think that anything can happen in the future. The war is not over yet. We cannot lose all reserves because of this rate," said Asadov.
The speaker said that in general, no buying fever has been observed due to changes in exchange rate of the manat. "I agree that shops, many speculators have raised prices. In Azerbaijan, 70 percent of the products are of domestic production. Also, the current products in stores have been bought prior to increase in the value of the dollar, why should their price be increased?" the speaker said.
He said that the government is taking measures to prevent artificial increase of prices. "The day before I called the ministry of economic development, and I was told that serious work is being carried out in this area. I am sure that the growth of prices in the country will not be tolerated," said Asadov.
In accordance with the decision of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, starting from February 21, the official exchange rate of the dollar against the manat was established at the level of AZN 1.05 / $1.
Edited by CN