Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) is exploring new tools to manage its foreign currency reserves.

CBA deputy chairman Khagani Abdullayev told Trend news agency that the main principle for the bank is to maintain foreign currency reserves and their safety.

"That is, we are not considering any radical, high-yield options for placement, but instead resorting to instruments with a stable rating. Today, our strategy includes diversification of instruments. We do not expect any radical shifts in the portfolio. However, we are considering new tools in the emerging markets. Basically, these are long term securities, deposits," Abdullayev said.

Earlier, the CBA said that the strategic currency reserves of the country rose by 2.3 percent, or $1.1 billion, in the first quarter of 2013 compared to early this year. The ratio of the strategic currency reserves to the country's GDP is close to 70 percent.

According to the CBA report on the Q1 results, the bank's foreign currency reserves grew during the reporting period by 5.5 percent to reach $12.3 billion, which is enough to finance imports of goods and services over a year.

As of late April, 3.12 billion manat was placed in securities (or 25.2 percent of total foreign exchange reserves held by the Central Bank) and 8.59 billion manat are deposited in the accounts of other central banks, the International Development Bank (IDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Abdullayev went on to say that the CBA is pleased with the work of its external managers, managing part of the reserves.

"We are pleased with their work. Our managers are very stable and professional and we will continue to work with them," Abdullayev said.