Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr I. Khalilova / In 2007, the rate of the Azerbaijani manat was consolidated by 2.6% compared to the US dollar, the head of the National Bank of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov told Parliament on 13 November, during discussions over a public budget draft for 2008.
Azerbaijan is experiencing a currency rate crisis, but compared to other countries, it is still at a relatively lower level. For instance, Russian national currency got consolidated by 8% compared to dollar, Kazakhstan over 5%, Venezuela at 27%.
However, compared to the currencies of Azerbaijan's trade partners, the Azerbaijani manat dropped by a rate of 5%. According to Rustamov, sterilization measures (the National Bank removed $1.4bln bulk from circulation) enabled this drop in consolidation. Otherwise, the consolidation would have been 20%. As a result of the sterilization, the National Bank put additional manat bulk into circulation, which was necessary for fiscal purposes.
As a result, there has been an increase in the amount of money bulk in public circulation (which has increased by 50%), which leads to inflation.