Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 29
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
The international foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) will nearly double over the next four years, according to analysts of Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings agency (S&P).
According to the S&P forecast, CBA reserves will increase from $5,334.6 million in 2017 up to $9.974 million in 2021.
S&P forecasts that annual growth of CBA reserves will stand at 16.75 percent and will total $6.228 million in 2018.
CBA reserves will amount to $7.434 million in 2019, and $8.683 million – in 2020.
According to the results of 2017, currency reserves of the Central Bank increased by $1.36 billion or by 34.2 percent up to $5,334.6 million as compared to 2016.
In December 2017, CBA reserves rose by $80.4 million (1.53 percent).
In 2016, CBA’s currency reserves decreased by more than $1 billion or by 20.78 percent and amounted to $3,974.4 million as compared to 2015.
Reserves of the CBA have been decreasing since July 2014. If in the beginning this process proceeded at a slow rate (within the range of $20-50 million), then, starting from December 2014, a sharp decline was observed in the volume of reserves, which is related to an increase in demand for US dollar in the country.