Azerbaijani manat turns 30 years old

Baku / 15.08.22 / Turan: Today Azerbaijan celebrates the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency - the manat.

Although its preparation began during the reign of the country's first President Ayaz Mutallibov, the completion of the process fell on the time of the next President Abulfaz Aliyev (Elchibey) – on August 15, 1992.

The author of the first sketches of the manat was Eldar Mikailzadeh. Initially, monetary units of 1, 10 and 250 manats were issued, in November 1992 - 5, 10, 20 and 50 gapiks, in December -5 manats, and in March 1993 -50, 100, 500 and 1,000 manats.

In 2005, Azerbaijan made a decision on the denomination and since 2006 has issued a new generation of banknotes. At the same time, 1 new manat is equal to 5,000 old manats.

The Azerbaijani manat rapidly became cheaper in the first years of independence. At the end of 1993, the official exchange rate of the US dollar against old money was 118 manats, and by the end of 1994 it reached 4,182 manats. After that, the exchange rate of the national currency stabilized, and for many years the dollar price fluctuated between 4,000 manats for old money and 0.8 manats for new ones.

In 2015, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, taking into account the sharp reduction in the price of oil on the world market, set the dollar exchange rate first at 1.05 manats, and then at 1.55 manats. The agency explained the reason for the 1st devaluation as a desire to preserve foreign exchange reserves, and the reason for the 2nd devaluation was the transition to a “floating exchange rate” mode. After that, the exchange rate of the US currency fluctuated between 1.49-1.92 manats, and since April 2017 it has stabilized at the level of 1.7 manats. -0-