BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 12. The AZIR (Azerbaijan Interbank Rate) benchmark interest rate in Azerbaijan’s unsecured interbank money market continued to move close to the central bank’s policy rate during the reporting period.
According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), the average deviation of the AZIR index from the policy rate narrowed to 0.05 percentage points in the first half of 2026, from 0.21 percentage points in 2025.
The CBA said the narrowing spread indicates stronger transmission of the policy rate to interest rates formed in the interbank money market.
“In 2026, the parameters of the interest rate corridor have been reviewed five times by the Central Bank’s Board. At the first monetary policy meeting, the policy rate was reduced from 6.75% to 6.5%, while the upper bound of the interest rate corridor was lowered from 7.75% to 7.5% and the lower bound from 5.75% to 5.5%. At subsequent meetings, the Central Bank kept the interest rate corridor parameters unchanged,” the CBA said.
The bank said monetary policy decisions were made taking into account actual and projected inflation within the target range, the regional geopolitical situation, trends in global financial markets, the domestic macroeconomic environment and the characteristics of monetary policy transmission.
The CBA added that decisions on the interest rate corridor were announced to the public according to a previously published schedule and accompanied by relevant analytical commentary.
