Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 12
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Some 89 percent of foreign exchange transactions were conducted in dollars on the Azerbaijani market in the first half of 2015, a monetary policy report of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan as of January-June 2015 said.
According to the report, the remaining 11 percent of transactions were conducted in other currencies on the foreign exchange market.
The total volume of transactions on the Azerbaijani foreign exchange market increased by over twofold in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period of last year.
The volume of transactions in dollars doubled, while in euros they increased by 2.3 times.
"An increase in the foreign currency transaction volume in the first half of 2015 was mainly related to the processes in the first quarter of this year [the manat rate changed on February 21]," the report said. "Thus, the volume of transactions in dollars increased by 2.4 times (to $21.7 million) in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period of last year. The growth rates decreased to 1.6 times (about $16.3 million) in the second quarter."
During the reporting period, the volume of cash dollars, sold by the banks to the population, doubled.
"The demand for cash dollars mainly appeared in the first quarter of this year," the report said. "Thus, some 76 percent of dollars and 56 percent of euros, sold in the first half of this year accounted for January-March."
The official exchange rate is 1.0489 AZN/USD Aug. 12.
Edited by CN