BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1. The growth of imports in Azerbaijan also increases the demand for dollars and there is a serious need to increase and diversify the currency supply of the market to optimize demand, a member of the Parliament Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship, Vugar Bayramov wrote on his social media account, Trend reports.
He noted that in 2023, imports reached $17.2 billion.
Bayramov emphasized that the order for $80 million at the last auction indicates that volatility in the foreign exchange market may be optimized this month.
"Note that at each of the 5 previous auctions the demand was triple digit, that is, more than $100 million. However, it is not excluded that in March the demand for US dollars will not decrease sharply either, taking into account the number of holidays, non-working days, and the potential volume of imports.
The central bank announced that the increase in demand for the dollar in February was more related to seasonal factors. The currency market was always slack in February last year, although seasonal factors were seen as more natural causes in line with the period. This suggests that there are other economic and psychological reasons for the surge in demand for currency in February. For instance, $326.5 million was auctioned in February 2023, $371.3 million in the same month of 2022, and $437.4 million in the same month of 2021. That figure was $870.6 million in February of this year. It appears that the kind of dramatic increase seen in February 2024 was not seen in the first months of the three previous years," the publication says.
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