Azerbaijani central bank buys $639 mln on forex market to prevent manat appreciation in H1
BAKU. July 19. (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) purchased $639 million worth of foreign currency on the forex market in the first half of 2012 in order to prevent a strong appreciation in the national currency (manat), the CBA said in a press release with reference to the Chairman of its Management Board Elman Rustamov.
"As a result, the manat strengthened by a total of 0.11% against the U.S. dollar," it said.
Azerbaijan's strategic forex reserves, which include assets in the State Oil Fund, the CBA's forex reserves and balances in the Finance Ministry's unified treasury account, totaled $44 billion as of July 1. The country's trade surplus came to $7 billion in the first six months of 2012, Rustamov noted.
The CBA will continue to implement measures aimed at keeping inflation under 10% in the second half of this year. By the end of H1 2012, average annual inflation stood at 2.2% in Azerbaijan.
Last year, the CBA bought $4.153 billion worth of foreign currency on the forex market in order to maintain the manat's stability. The manat grew 1.4% against the dollar last year.
