BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.6
By Zeyni Jafarov - Trend:
The steps taken to ease the monetary policy in Azerbaijan in 2020 were aimed at increasing the role of banks in stimulating the economic activity and making loans more affordable, the Accounts Chamber stated in its opinion for the country’s 2021 state budget, Trend reports.
According to the chamber, during 2020, the Central Bank several times had been revising the parameters of the interest rate corridor at various stages and reduced interest rates in the direction of easing monetary policy. The discount rate, introduced in early 2020, has been decreased from 9.25 percent to 6.5 percent basically to maintain the stability of the national currency, as well as a low inflation rate.
The decline in term deposits in the national currency also affected the volume of money supply. So, as of late October 2020, a 13.7 percent growth rate of the volume of broad money in manat was recorded, while compared to the early 2020, this rate decreased by 14.9 percentage points. Of the constituent elements of this monetary aggregate, long-term deposits in manat also showed decrease, added the chamber.
As earlier reported, the fluctuations that were observed in the foreign exchange market of Azerbaijan at the beginning of 2020 affected the volume of deposits, leading to a decrease in the population's savings.