Is the era of the dollar coming to an end in Azerbaijan?

In the first four months of 2026, the volume of foreign cash currency purchased by exchange offices in Azerbaijan exceeded the volume of its sales by 190 million US dollars. The share of funds placed in US dollars in deposits of resident individuals decreased by 2.1 percentage points in March, falling to 28%.

Economist Khalid Karimli, in a comment to Baku TV, noted that against the backdrop of the financial and economic stability observed in recent years and high oil prices, the population does not believe in the depreciation of the manat.

"Since manat deposits offer more favorable terms, citizens are gradually switching from dollar deposits to manat ones. First, the level of trust in the national currency has significantly increased, and no serious risks for the manat are expected in the near term. Second, economic activity plays its role," the expert emphasized.

According to K. Karimli, the decline in imports also contributed to the decrease in demand for foreign currency. Thus, in the first quarter of 2026, the volume of imports decreased by 29.3% compared to the same period last year.

It should be noted that the situation with currency sales at auctions did not affect the volume of transfers to the state budget from the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan. A total of 4 billion 280 million manats was transferred from the fund to the budget — in line with the forecast.

During the specified period, the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan increased by 10.2% and reached 12.7 billion US dollars.