CBA unveils amount of foreign currency sold to local banks

19 January 2021 19:14 (UTC+04:00)

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The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) sold $66.4 million to the local banks at the foreign exchange auction held with the participation of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) on January 19, 2021, Trend reports citing the country's CBA.

The demand from banks at the auction decreased by 33.7 percent compared to the previous indicator and was fully met.

At the end of the auction, the weighted average rate of the manat to the dollar amounted to 1.7 AZN/USD.

Earlier the CBA reported that the expectations formed in recent days amid the unfounded news in the press and social networks about the fall of the Azerbaijani manat rate caused a certain demand in the cash currency market, which affected the relative growth of demand at foreign exchange auctions.

However, opinions about the fall of the Azerbaijani manat rate are unfounded, given the rise in oil prices compared to 2020, the adoption of positive decisions on oil production at the recent OPEC + meeting, the launch of vaccination programs against the COVID-19 virus worldwide, and huge transfers from the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan.

The first foreign exchange auction for a long time was held with the participation of SOFAZ on March 10, 2020, during which Azerbaijani banks purchased $323.2 million.

The CBA began to conduct currency auctions through a one-way sale of currency in a competitive environment from mid-January 2017.