BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 31
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Russian Gazprombank expected increase of refinancing rate in Azerbaijan by 50 basis points to curb inflationary expectations and support the attractiveness of deposits in manat, Gulnara Khaidarshina, deputy head of the bank’s market research department, told Trend.
Khaidarshina made the remark commenting on the recent decision of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) to raise the refinancing rate by 25 basis points up to 7.5 percent at its first meeting in 2022.
According to her, the tone of the CBA's comments remained cautious.
"The decision of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan was due to arguments aimed at increasing inflationary pressure and expectations, economic recovery, strengthening the impact on the growth of money supply from the soft fiscal policy,” she said.
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan presented an updated inflation forecast and expects it to slow down to the upper limit of the target range (four percent +/-2 percentage points) by the end of the year, the Russian bank’s representative noted.
Besides, according to her, the regulator pointed out the importance of implementing non-monetary anti-inflationary measures, on which he is now working together with the Azerbaijani government.
This is understandable, given that certain factors of inflation associated with a lack of supply of goods and an increase in the cost of imports are difficult to be curbed by raising the rate, added Khaidarshina.
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