Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend / Today the USD/AZN rate remains near the historical minimum, rippling in a range of AZN 0.85-0.84 to $1. At the beginning of the year the USD/AZN rate in Azerbaijan made up AZN 0.87 to $1 and a couple of years ago - AZN 0.98 to $1.
Several factors play their role in this regard. There is a rise in oil prices, weak economic indicators in the USA, a large deficit of external trade, a decrease in foreign capital flow into the United States, etc. The key reason for the USD rate drop in Azerbaijan is the flow of huge currency investment incomes into the country in a period when the USD rate and world oil prices were at their historical maximum.
Azerbaijan's integration into the world economy is continuing and naturally the sensitivity of the country's economy to foreign factors is increasing, i.e. processes in the world economy affect Azerbaijan as well.
The USD/AZN rate at the end of the year will make up AZN 0.85-0.84 to $1. However, this ratio is closely attached to the USD/EUR. It means that each change in the USD/EUR rate will bring to the change in USD/AZN rate. The National Bank of Azerbaijan will not allow the AZN to significantly increase because it is unfavorable for local exporters. NBA's passive participation may bring a significant rise (at least 18-20%) in AZN rate. Factually it has increased by 2.5%.
Over the past three years, the USD has decreased by 11% in relevance to the EUR. One of the influences on change of the USD/EUR rate in world markets was the fall of the AZN rate in relevance to the single European currency. Since the beginning of the year, the AZN rate has decreased by 5.6% in relevance to the EUR and it leads to a price increase for products imported from Europe. Commodities imported from Europe are mainly of investment appointments and therefore, a rise of the EUR rate causes an increase of industrial equipment prices.
(Leyla Abdullayeva - expert of Trend )