Baku, Azerbaijan, July 11
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan can again reduce the discount rate during the next meeting of the Board, Director of the Training Center of the Ministry of Taxes of the country, economist Farhad Amirbekov believes.
The expert noted that, macroeconomic indicators are favorable for further reduction of the discount rate.
"The situation is stable from the macroeconomic point of view. Inflation amounts to three percent, and the interest rate - to 10 percent. The spread is quite large, so most likely the Central Bank will agree to another reduction of he interest rate. The reduction is likely to be cautious, as previously, because this is the standard policy of all national banks," Amirbekov told Trend July 11.
At the same time, the expert added that, today, the conclusions can be drawn only unilaterally - based only on macroeconomic indicators.
"Unfortunately, the information on the situation in the interbank credit market regarding interest rates in manats is currently unavailable. This is also one of the important indicators, because the liquid interbank market shows certain trends on which the Central Bank can rely when making a decision," Amirbekov said.
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan reduced the discount rate from 11 to 10 percent on June 14, 2018. The cap of the interest rate collar was reduced from 14 to 12 percent. The floor of the interest rate collar was maintained at 8 percent.
In February, the CBA reduced the discount rate from 15 to 13 percent, and in April - from 13 to 11 percent. Next time, the parameters of the interest rate collar will be discussed in August 2018.
