BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.20
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan-based AccessBank projects slight increase in cost of manat resources, the Acting Chairman of the Board of AccessBank Evgeniya Gashikulina told Trend.
She was commenting on the decision of the Board of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) to increase the discount rate from 6.25 percent to 6.5 percent.
“The decision made as part of the Central Bank's monetary policy is aimed at limiting the risk of increased inflation. The increase in the rate, of course, should lead to an increase in the rates on savings products and deposits. But this dependency is not entirely direct. The dependence may change as a result of a short-term situation with liquidity, ambitions of banks for lending and, of course, is limited by the maximum rate on insured deposits,” noted Gashikulina.
She pointed out that AccessBank projects in its financial forecasts a slight increase in the cost of manat resources, which “we will try to compensate without affecting interest rates on loans”.
Gashikulina went on to add that the bank’s main plan is to build up its loan portfolio mainly in the segment of micro and agricultural entrepreneurs. “We also plan to increase the profitability and efficiency of the bank. And of course, one of our constant tasks is to improve customer focus through simplifying processes, developing new skills among our employees and introducing new technologies.”
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