Central Bank of Azerbaijan changes schedule of currency auctions

Baku. 4 October. REPORT.AZ/ Schedule of the currency auctions, regularly held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), was changed. A decision was adopted to organize the auctions on Wednesdays and Fridays, starting from this week.

Report informs citing the banking circles, the auctions will be carried out in 3 sessions. In addition, after this, amount of the currency, to be offered, will not be announced to the commercial banks in advance.

Analytical Group of Report News Agency considers that a definite increase may occur in the US-dollar exchange rate as during the first auctions, the banks and CBA will be in the stage of adaptation to the new system. However, further stabilization of exchange rate according to the demand and supply, but slightly increases are likely to continue: "If official exchange rate of USD reduces below 1.60 AZN/USD, the banks are forecasted to increase purchases of US-dollar. Also, the exchange rate is expected to fluctuate throughout the day. Banks' participation in the auctions as sellers will increase exchange rate volatility of manat. Because the banks will act both as buyers and sellers within a day according to customer orders. 

The experts didn't rule out speculation on currency exchange rates: "Naturally, it is not contrary to the laws of the market economy."