CBA buys $560 million to keep manat rate

The Azerbaijani Central Bank (CBA) sterilized the currency to the amount of $560 million in the first quarter of 2013 to prevent significant strengthening of the manat rate and eliminating the negative impact on the competitiveness of the non-oil sector, chairman of the Azerbaijani Central Bank Elman Rustamov told journalists today.

"I would not say there is activity in the foreign exchange market, but we do it to keep the exchange rate of the national currency at a stable level," he said.

In 2012, the CBA transferred $1,584 million to purchase the currency. Last year the manat rate compared to the U.S. dollar strengthened by 0.19 per cent and cheapened by 0.013 per cent in the first quarter of this year. The lowest rate of the dollar was kept at the level of 0.7844 manat within three months from January 30 to April 4, while the most expensive rate hit 0.7850 manat on March 5-6.


/Trend/