Sanctions against Iran, Russia and Turkey will affect Azerbaijan, V.Ahmedov

Baku / 14.08.18 / Turan: The depreciation of the national currencies of Russia, Turkey and Iran, caused by US sanctions, will affect Azerbaijan. However, Baku has reserves to prevent the outflow of dominance from the country and prevent the manat from depopulating in the short term, said Vahid Ahmedov, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, in an interview with Voice of America. The above-mentioned countries are major trading partners of Azerbaijan. So, with Turkey and Russia the volume of mutual trade reaches 2 billion dollars, with Iran - 300 million dollars. In these countries there are Azerbaijani investments, and they have investments in Azerbaijan.

It is difficult to predict what will be the consequences of the sanctions, but they have already led to a sharp depreciation of national currencies. Attempts to take countermeasures and even abandon the dollar in mutual trade may take several years, the deputy believes. Ahmedov believes that American sanctions will have a certain influence on the countries of the South Caucasus.

In the first couple of months, due to internal reserves, it will be possible to maintain the exchange rate of national currencies. However, later it will become more difficult. At the same time, the depreciation of the currencies of neighboring countries can positively affect the consumer market of Azerbaijan. That is, Azerbaijani entrepreneurs can buy goods there at low prices, if these countries do not impose restrictions on exports.

If the falling currencies of neighboring countries continue, Azerbaijan will be able to keep the manat rate from internal reserves until the end of the year. High oil prices allow to have a positive balance of import-export operations. The Central Bank controls the money supply and the main issue for today is to prevent the outflow of currency abroad, the deputy noted. In his view, sanctions can not last long and these countries will go to negotiations with the US and the EU.

Azerbaijan invested about $ 20 billion in investments in Turkey, a $ 500 million loan was provided to Iran for the construction of the North-South railway. Therefore, investments in these countries should be preserved, Ahmadov believes. -03D06-