Azerbaijan, Baku, March 12 / Trend A. Akhundov /
The capitalisation programme of the Azerbaijani banking sector will increase competition in the market and influence interest rates on the products, adviser of the department on the Middle East and Central Asia of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Raja Al Marzouqi said at a press conference today following the IMF mission's visit to Baku.
The IMF mission on Azerbaijan, led by Raja Al Marzouqi has been in Baku from February 26. The main purpose of the visit was to conduct consultations on Article IV of the Articles of Agreement on an IMF establishment with the Azerbaijani government.
"The purpose of the programme is to bring the capital of the market participants to the same level," he said. "This will increase competition."
He added that the IMF fully supports the measures of the Azerbaijani Central Bank.
"The country's actions contribute to the capitalisation and consolidation of banks and encourage them to explore new business models," he said. "However, the initiatives on strengthening the banking sector must be accompanied by measures to limit the systemic risks."
The Central Bank raised the minimum requirement for a total capital of each bank from 10 million manat to 50 million manat. This requirement will come into force from January 1, 2014.
The official exchange rate is 0.7849 AZN/USD on March 12.