Azernews.Az

The protection of macroeconomic stability is the main mandate of the Azerbaijani Central Bank (CBA), Chairman of the Central Bank Elman Rustamov said on November 13 speaking at an extended meeting in the Parliament.

"One of our main concerns is the maintaining of stable price levels. Current inflation is only 2.3 percent and it is expected to be equal to 3.2 percent for the end of 2013. This is many times less than the growth rates of wages and pensions," Rustamov said.

According to the CBA chairman, keeping of inflation at this low level is a very acceptable result of the national economy under the conditions of some 9 percent growth in the country's non-oil sector and the improving investment and business climate.

"During the first nine months of 2013 the Central Bank kept the growth rate of monetary mass at the level of 7.3 percent. This figure is expected to be equal to maximum 10 percent by the end of 2013 and this will play an important role in the anti-inflationary policy," the CBA chairman said.

Rustamov went on to say that the CBA obtained foreign currency on the country's currency market worth $2 billion in order to prevent the further rise of the manat's price.

"As is known, the exchange rate of the manat remains stable. Under the conditions when the country's payment balance surplus accounts for over 16 percent of GDP, as well as the high fiscal activity, we managed to prevent the quicker rise in price of the national currency.

Today, the manat is the most stable and reliable currency of the region. The Central Banks of other countries has already expressed their interest in using of manat as one of the reserve currencies," Rustamov said.