Real effective exchange rate of Azerbaijani manat in upward trend again

Baku. 13 May. REPORT.AZ/ Real effective currency rate of Azerbaijani manat was 95.5 by April 1, 2017. Report informs referring to Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), this is for 3.6 points higher than the same indicator on March 1. The real effective rate rose by 6.6 points comparing to the same period of last year.

The rising trend of real effective currency rate means that the manat is strengthening against national currencies of Azerbaijan’s trade partners.

Report’s expert group notes that during March manat strengthened against the backdrop of stable rates of Turkish lira, Russian ruble and Chinese yuan, which resulted in rise of real effective exchange rate. No significant change in the real effective rate of manat is expected in April. The reason is observed stability of manat and national currencies of trade partners. Let’s mark that declining exchange rate of national currencies of these countries will lead to increase of import, which in turn will put additional pressure on manat. Notably, real effective exchange rate of Azerbaijani manat is calculated since 2000; its lowest rate was 74.2 in 2004, the highest – 153.1 in 2015. The lowest reported rate after beginning of financial crisis was 87 on September 1, 2016.

Notably, 85-90 is considered as an acceptable range for real effective exchange rate of manat.