BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14. Demand for foreign currency hasn’t increased among people in Azerbaijan, Deputy Head of the Market Analysis Department at the Russian Gazprombank Gulnara Khaidarshina told Trend.
According to Khaidarshina, this is evidenced by the dynamics of sales at the auctions of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, which declined by 17.3 percent.
"The volume of the sold currency has remained 63 percent less than in the fourth quarter of 2021, when budget expenditures reached a peak. Besides, currency sales on July 13 were 10.2 times lower than the maximum level ($323.2 million) since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020," she said.
"In the near future, the volume of currency sales at auctions from imports can again undergo some pressure. In value terms, the growth of Azerbaijani imports in the first five months of 2022 amounted to 14.5 percent year-on-year, up to $5.1 billion," the analyst noted.
"Moreover, after approval of additional expenses for the investment program and projects in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh by the parliament, the volume of sales of foreign currency by the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) may also moderately increase," Khaidarshina also said.
According to the analyst, Azerbaijan has sufficient resources to maintain a stable exchange rate, being one of the CIS countries, most of all provided with international reserves.
"As of July 1, 2022, Azerbaijan's international reserves, including SOFAZ assets, were estimated at over $54.2 billion and were close to 100 percent of GDP, while covering 53 months of imports," she added.