Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 11 / Trend I.Khalilova, N.Ismayilova /
Supply of foreign currency far exceeds the demand for it on the currency market of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Elman Rustamov said on Monday.
"The CBA carries out sterilization to strengthen the rate of manat. The vector of strengthening of manat is more probable than its cheapening on the market," Rustamov said.
Rustamov said the change of rate will depend on the overall macroeconomic situation in the country.
"The devaluation is out of question, but the country may exert influence on the growth of inflation and the oversupply of foreign currencies on the foreign exchange market," Rustamov said. "The CBA has bought $1billion in the foreign exchange market in nine months of 2010 and this figure could be doubled that is, brought to $2 billion by late 2010."
There are risks of increasing the inflation in Azerbaijan in 2011 compared the projected level of five percent, he said.
"There exist such risks and we study them. The country has an excessive level of imports and inflation. As we know, prices for grain and related products are increasing on the world market, and we started to feel it in 2010," Rustamov said.
Rustamov said the central bank will revise the interest and exchange rate policy in terms of such a danger.
The exchange rate of the U.S dollar for 2011 predicted to amount to 0.8 manat.
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