CBA: AZN 1.1 billion withdrawn from Azerbaijan

Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) issued a statement for clarification of news on illegal withdrawal of cash funds from the country, with reference to the report on Chamber of Account’s activities in 2020, and expert comments on these reports, Report informs.

The Bank says that the abovementioned report is about the activities of the Chamber of Account in 2019, not in 2020, and the facts provided in that report reflect the imperfects in the field of customs administration within the inspections conducted in the Air Transport Head Customs Department.

During that period, cash funds worth AZN 1.1 billion were legally withdrawn from the country. These operations were aimed at transfers to the correspondent accounts of the banks in the foreign banks in accordance with normal banking practice.

More than 90% of cash funds withdrawn from the country were in EUR. Following the decision of the European Central Bank to withdraw 500-euro banknotes from circulation, the banks issued the banknotes of the same denomination in order to deposit them in correspondent accounts in the foreign banks. In all cases, all these funds belonged to banks.