BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 13
Trend:
Demand in Azerbaijan’s currency market will be fully met, Vusal Gasimli, Executive Director of Azerbaijan’s Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC) said, Trend reports referring to the CAERC.
Gasimli noted that currently the amount of cash in circulation (outside banks) is 9.3 billion manat. This is while, the population of Azerbaijan spends on average 300 manat per capita per month, which totals about three billion manat per month, he added.
“In other words, the monthly expenses of the population amount to one third of the money supply, and part of the cash manat is needed by the population to ensure current consumption. So there is no need to convert these funds into dollars,” Gasimli explained.
He pointed out that on average, $700 million was sold in three currency auctions in the Central Bank over this week with participation of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund.
“This means that the frequency of converting manat to dollars will go down, since the purchases will be made in manats in coming weeks in connection with Nowruz holiday,” added Gasimli.
In addition, Gasimli noted that on the one hand, the conversion of manat deposits into dollars means a reduction in interest on deposits and on the other, a loss of funds on average to 10 percent on convertible expenses. According to the theory of rational choice, the conversion of manat deposits into dollars is now more risky than keeping them in national currency.
The volume of deposits in manats exceeded $9 billion in 2014, while currently, it is equal to $5.1 billion, he said.