Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 12
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Some 91 percent of transactions were conducted in dollars on the Azerbaijani currency market in January-September 2015, the Azerbaijani Central Bank’s report on the monetary policy as of January-September 2015 said.
The remaining nine percent of transactions account for other currencies.
"The sharp decline in oil prices, which began in late 2014, and devaluation covering the main trade partners of Azerbaijan, increased the demand for foreign currency on the domestic market, especially US dollar," the report says.
The volume of dollar transactions increased by 1.8 times, while euro transactions - by 2.1 times compared to the same period of last year.
In general, the Azerbaijani monetary market volume increased by 1.8 times compared to Jan.-Sept. 2014.
The dollar turnover on the Azerbaijani foreign exchange market amounted to 54.085 billion, euro – 5.040 billion euro for nine months.
The volume of net foreign currency cash, sold by banks to the population, increased by 61.7 percent in January-September 2015 compared to 2014.
According to the report, the growth in demand for foreign currency mainly occurred in the first quarter of 2015. Thus, some 63 percent of a total volume of US dollars, sold in the first nine months, were sold in the first quarter and 38 percent account for the euro.
As a result of this, the Central Bank sold dollars within six months of 2015 and bought them in July - September.
The real effective rate reduced by 15 percent in January-September 2015. This mainly occurred as a result of a decrease in the nominal effective exchange rate of manat by 12.1 percent.
The depreciation of the real effective exchange rate of manat is a factor having a positive impact on the competitiveness in the non-oil sector and stimulating the exports, the report said.
The official exchange rate is 1.503 AZN/USD Nov. 12.
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