CBA raises almost 200M manats at deposit auction
By Nigar Abbasova
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) conducted this year’s ninth deposit auction on attraction of funds on February 27. The results showed that demand in the auction exceeded the supply by 31 percent.
The order of the bank set out for the auction was at the level of 150 million manats ($ 85.83 million), while demand from participants totaled 196.5 million manats ($112.4 million).
The weighted average interest rate on deposit transactions amounted to 14.73 percent, the same rate was fixed at eighth auction.
The February 17 auction remains the record one in terms of a size of order for raising (some 200 million manats ($114.4 million). Demand in the eighth auction totaled 204.4 million manats ($118.2 million).
The CBA began to hold deposit auctions in mid-June 2016. Currently, some 32 banks, including two state-owned ones, are operating in Azerbaijan.
The interest rate may vary at a range of 12.01 to 14.99 percent. The rate, fixed following November 14, 2016 auction (14.98 percent) is still the highest in the history.
Deposit operations are focused on the development of money market and improvement of the current monetary policy. Main aim of such auctions is sterilization of money supply.
The official exchange rate of the US dollar and euro to Azerbaijani manat for February 27 was set at 1.7475 manats and 1.8466 manats, respectively.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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