Expert: Currency Sold by SOFAZ Circulates in Black Market

The Central Bank and SOFAZ sell tens of millions of dollars to commercial banks, not tracking the further fate of the currency, which comes to the black market, the economist Ogtay Hagverdiyev told Turan.

According to him, against the background of the huge demand the supply comes from the commercial banks. 'They are buying USD not to pickle the currency for the winter. They do not lend USD to businesses and do not give out personal loans. Where do the dollars go? Money cannot lie as dead capital, so it "floats" to the black market,' said the expert, sure that these volumes are almost equivalent to the amounts purchased on the CBA auctions.

In addition, commercial banks are refusing to sell dollars and euros at the Central Bank's rate to ordinary citizens, severely limiting the size of the transaction. At the same time in the black market there are tens of millions of USD, and the banks themselves selectively sell currency at their own rate to "serious" customers.

The dollar deficit in commercial banks shows a partial presence of banks in the black market, and so the question of the currency sources remains open, said a member of the Bar Association, the founder of the law firm Anti Collector, Akram Hasanov. 'For a long time, the supply on the exchange auctions of the Central Bank was limited to $ 100 million dollars a week, while the informal demand reached $ 1 billion,' he said. The penultimate time CBA put up for sale only $ 50 million of the Oil Fund at the demand of $ 588 million, but it was enough to increase the supply to $ 200 million and the US dollar exchange rate in the black market began to fall.

'The total foreign exchange reserves of the Oil Fund and the Central Bank reached $ 40 billion, and there is no shortage of the US currency. However, the Central Bank refuses to sell dollars to banks at their own rate. Its policy activates the highly profitable black market for currency,' said Hasanov. On the basis of the shadow exchange rate of $ 1 / 1.85 AZN the exchange rate of banks is $ 1 / 1.7 AZN, and the net income from the sale of $100 in the black market is $ 9 thousand.

According to experts, the Central Bank rate does not meet the real one. As a result, ordinary citizens have to buy foreign currency in the black market, while banks sell millions of dollars privately to "their" clients, business owners, at rates lying between the black market and the official exchange rate of the Central Bank - $ 1 / 1.64. --17D-