Azerbaijani banks reduce demand for foreign currency

By Trend

The demand of Azerbaijani banks for foreign currency at the auction held by the Central Bank (CBA) with the participation of the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) on September 7 decreased by 2.4 percent, Trend reports, referring to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani banks were sold $67.9 million, compared to the previous auction, when $69.6 million was sold.

The demand from local banks was fully satisfied and according to the results of the auction, the weighted average exchange rate of the manat to the dollar was 1.7 AZN/USD.

The first in a long time foreign exchange auction with the participation of SOFAZ was held on March 10, 2020, during which Azerbaijani banks purchased $323.2 million.

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan has started conducting currency auctions through the unilateral sale of currency in competitive conditions since mid-January 2017.

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