Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 22 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) conducted sterilization of currency to the amount of $4.153.2 billion in 2011, the CBA's report on monetary policy said today.
The CBA has been implementing its exchange rate policy since early 2011 in terms of expanding the ways of supply in the foreign exchange market and a new operational mechanism.
According to the report, the manat rate strengthened during the reporting period. However, the CBA conducted foreign exchange intervention to prevent excessive strengthening. This may have a negative impact on the competitiveness of non-oil sector.
The manat rate compared to the dollar strengthened by 1.4 percent in 2011. The stability of the national currency during the last year had a positive impact on the stability of macroeconomic and financial sectors.
In 2011 the nominal effective exchange rate of manat strengthened compared to the currencies of most countries-trade partners of Azerbaijan. The dynamics of the nominal effective exchange rate of manat had an impact on the change in the real effective exchange rate.
The manat rate compared to the currencies of China and Georgia cheapened in the nominal and real terms during the reporting period, compared to the Japanese currency cheapened only nominally, and the Iranian currency - just in real terms.
The manat rate strengthened both nominally and really compared to the currencies of U.S., euro zone, Great Britain, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Israel, South Korea and Belarus.
The nominal effective exchange rate for non-oil sector in the total trade turnover increased by 7.1 percent in 2011. Inflation in the partner countries contributed to a decrease in the real effective exchange rate by 1.8 percent. The real effective exchange rate on non-oil sector strengthened by 5.3 percent.