Experts of the "Black Saturday" of manat

The decision of the Central Bank  of Azerbaijan (CBA) on the sharp decline in the rate of manat, is first and foremost step that undermines public confidence not only to the main bank of the country, but the government's economic policy. All the preceding days the CBA assured the public that the weakening exchange rate of manat will be smoothed. However, the population was deceived, said the head  of the  Economic Initiatives Center, Azer Mehdiyev.

"On February 16, when it was announced that the rate of manat will be determined on the basis of the currency basket, people were assured that the weakening of the manat will take place smoothly and people will not feel it. As it turned out  there is a reason for concern. Apparently, this was done in order  that circles  informed and close to the government and the Central Bank manage to exchange their manat resources for dollars," said Mehdiyev.

In his view, the motives of the CBA that the weakening  of the exchange rate of manat will promote  the development of non-oil economy is not wealthy. This is possible if the country has an export-oriented  competitive economy. The current decision will further undermine local production.

On the other hand, the decision of the CBA will increase inflation. The government will replenish budget  at the expense of inflation, but population will become poorer, said Mehdiyev.

Member of the Parliamentary Committee  for Economic Policy of the Milli Majlis, Vahid Akhmedov, commenting on the decision of CBA, said that he did not understand this step. "This decision came as a surprise, and it will negatively affect the real wages, pensions,  and loans,"  said Akhmedov.

In recent days he  has been in contact with the leadership of the CBA, and there were no signs of such drastic steps.

"The CBA assured that by the end of the year the price could reach 80-90 manat kopecks per dollar. Now, however, in one night, everything collapsed twice," he said, noting that he would raise the issue at the next session of Parliament. Such ill-considered actions can derail the country's banking system and cause massive bank failures, concluded Akhmedov.

Meanwhile, exchange offices in Baku stopped selling the dollar, even at the new price - 1 AZN 5 kopecks. Although the exchange price tags remain the same,  exchange offices and banks citizens  are told that the operations of purchase and sale suspended indefinitely. At the same time, the Central Bank yesterday officially announced that banks will work on weekendstoo, so that everyone could exchange money. -05B-