Economists Report Speculative Nature of AZN Strengthening

Experts believe in the speculative nature of the current strengthening of the manat against the US dollar. The head of Public Initiatives Center, Gubad Ibadoglu believes the strengthening of the manat is a temporary phenomenon.

According to him, this process is facilitated by a centralized decrease in money supply (AZN). “As a result of the monetary policy, business activity is even more suppressed, purchasing power is decreased and the economy is even more reduced,” Ibadoglu said.

A Member of the Board of the Public Association Assistance to Economic Initiatives Samir Aliyev, in turn, noted that we are talking about speculation. He noted the difference between the buying and selling of the dollar in some banks reaches 15%.

“The artificially created panic among the public does not bode well for macroeconomic stability. Instead of lending to the economy, banks deal with active currency trading. Daily revenue from it is approximately 600-900 thousand dollars,” he said.

Aliyev said the Central Bank and the Financial Markets Supervision House have taken the observer position rather than the intervention.

“This strikes both the population and entrepreneurs. As a result, the economy loses,” Aliyev said.

The Chairman of the Center for Economic and Social Development Vugar Bayramov also believes it is necessary to set the margin between buying and selling rates of the dollar by commercial banks. According to him, the margin should be 4%.

“For a long time, banks' income from currency trading was less than 4%. Therefore, such an interest, in turn, will not stimulate the black market,” said Bayramov.

Note that in February the manat has strengthened against the dollar by 19 kopecks or 9.9%. On February 2^nd the official rate of the manat stood at AZN 1.92 per dollar, and on February 9 – AZN 1.7301 per dollar.   ----71D