Devaluation of Azerbaijani manat inevitable

Devaluation of Azerbaijani manat is inevitable and the national currency is expected to drop is price against the dollar by 20% by the summer of this year, said co-chair of the public association of assistance to economic initiatives Rovshan Aghayev, commenting on the devaluation of Kazakh tenge as compared to dollar.

Kazakhstan also followed this way, reducing the national currency by 25% following the devaluation wave in the CIS (Russia in particular).

According to the expert, in the structure of Azerbaijani import 4 big CIS states (Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus) account for 33% trade. "Meanwhile, all these countries have already undertaken the devaluation of national currency, aimed at stimulation of the country export". After devaluation of the national currency in the CIS states, the responsibility for external economic transactions will fall on Azerbaijani economy, as the devaluation of national currencies in the CIS against dollar will also reduce cost of export of these countries to Azerbaijan. In this connection, he said Azerbaijan cannot stay beyond these processes.

"If Azerbaijan does not take any steps on the background of the attempts of these countries to stimulate its export, it will be the same as "narrowing" the local production of the country under the pressure of export". Nevertheless, according to Aghayev, if the country does not ensure competitive environment for local entrepreneurs, devaluation of manat will not have a real effect and will lead to inflation. If exactly, if local production after devaluation (probably on the level of 20%) does not take place of import production, while consumers in the country will face 20% rise in import production.

Echo's attempts to get comments in the National Bank of Azerbaijan were fruitless.

"Echo"