BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) is expected to maintain the refinancing rate at the level of 8.75 percent following the results of the upcoming May third meeting, Gulnara Khaidarshina, Deputy Head of Research at Russian Gazprombank, told Trend.
She noted that the reversal of inflation toward a slowdown due to the weakening of external inflationary pressure, a stable level of dollarization of household deposits, and the suspension of the growth of the money supply are some of the arguments in favor of this decision.
"We expect a cautious tone of the press release without indicating a likely rate cut due to the persistence of inflation risks in the economy. We think that the conditions are in place to stop the rate hike cycle," she said.
The CBA decided to increase the discount rate by 0.25 percentage points to 8.75 percent on March 29. The upper and lower limits of the percentage corridor were raised from 9.5 percent to 9.75 percent and 6.75 percent to 7 percent, respectively.