By Trend

The demand of Azerbaijani banks for the foreign currency at the auction held on September 28 by the Central Bank (CBA) with the participation of the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) decreased by $1.4 million, or 2.4 percent, to $56.6 million, compared to the previous auction, Trend reports via CBA.

About $58 million was sold to Azerbaijani banks at the last auction.

The demand of local banks for foreign currency was fully satisfied, and, according to the results of the auction, the 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, when Azerbaijani banks purchased $323.2 million.

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

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