Azerbaijani banks buy more foreign currency at CBA's auction

By Trend

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) sold $67.4 million to the local banks at the foreign exchange auction held with the participation of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) on January 21, 2021, Trend reports citing the country's CBA.

The demand from banks at the auction increased by 1.5 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 US dollar amounted to 1.7 AZN / USD.

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.

In March 2020, it was decided to hold extraordinary currency auctions due to the increased demand of the population for foreign currency amid the failure of the OPEC + deal, which led to a sharp drop in oil prices.