Azerbaijan will pursue conservative monetary policy in 2018

Baku. 21 November. REPORT.AZ/ The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) will hold conservative monetary policy next year.

Report informs, CBA Chairman Elman Rustamov said: “The stability of exchange rate will be in the center of attention in 2018, stability in the currency market will be preserved”.

Rustamov noted that the balance of payments in the current year was restored - $ 1.1 billion surplus has been achieved.

"Improvement in balance of payments is not just about oil prices. Decrease in imports, a 35% increase in non-oil exports is also a factor affecting the balance of payments. There are also positive trends in service balance. In current year, strategic reserves grew by 12% and the CBA reserves by 31%. The country's currency reserves were saved. Imports have decreased and the pressure on strategic currency reserves has dropped. The basic foundations of macroeconomic stability have emerged”, CBA governor added.

E. Rustamov said that currently more than 20% of bank assets are liquid assets: "Activity is not observed in the loan portfolio". According to him, there is a great need for the CBA's sterilization tools.

According to him inflation is mainly conditioned by non-monetary factors: "Over the last month, the rise in food prices in the world market prevented inflation from falling”, he said.