Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 21
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
The increase in non-oil revenues will secure the rate of Azerbaijani manat, Murad Ahmadov, deputy director of Azerbaijan’s investment company AzFinance CJSC, told reporters in Baku Dec. 21.
He noted that Azerbaijan needs to reduce dependence on raw materials in order to maintain the national currency.
“The share of the oil sector in the state budget revenues is quite high today. If we can achieve a reduction in the share of oil revenues, then we can say one thing – the rate of one US dollar will not exceed two manats. Otherwise, strong fluctuations in oil prices and volatility of the currencies of our main trading partners – Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan, will exert pressure on the rate of manat against the US dollar,” noted Ahmadov.
The Azerbaijani government switched to the floating manat regime on December 21, 2015. The exchange rate of Azerbaijan’s national currency, the manat, against the US dollar has strengthened by almost four percent since the beginning of 2017, and the exchange rate was set at 1.7001 for Dec. 21.