The Price of Stability: What Keeps the Manat from Currency Fluctuations?

In a world where currencies increasingly behave like seismographs of global anxieties, the manat remains a rare island of calm. A fresh report from Fitch Solutions confirms: thanks to the balanced policy of the Central Bank, large foreign exchange reserves, and a managed floating rate, the Azerbaijani currency maintains confident stability.

As the newspaper "Caspian" writes, analysts from the authoritative agency do not expect sharp movements in our currency's exchange rate in the coming year. On the contrary, the manat, according to their assessment, will enter the new year with the same cold calmness it has demonstrated in recent years. According to Fitch, even despite high inflationary pressure, the downward trend creates space for a softer monetary policy. And this, in turn, strengthens the foundation of exchange rate stability.

Island of Calm

But it's not only international structures that transmit confidence. The Ministry of Finance takes a similar position. In budget planning for several years ahead, the value of the manat is fixed without changes. According to the department, the exchange rate remains stable, the fiscal position is steady, and economic indicators inspire confidence. The country's financial reserves, the government notes, have almost doubled and today reach 95% of GDP, while external debt has decreased to a minimum level: foreign borrowing is currently 15 times less than the volume of our reserves. And all this forms a solid foundation for long-term stability.

And this essentially sounds like an open declaration of confidence in the national financial system.

- For businesses and ordinary citizens, a stable manat is not just a figure among exchange rates, but an island of calm, an opportunity to make plans without looking back at sudden jumps, - claims economist Asiman Guliyev. - While many countries live in the rhythm of currency upheavals, the Azerbaijani manat becomes a symbol of predictability. And in a world where the global economy is continuously feverish, a calm exchange rate turns into something more than just an economic indicator. Our currency is identified with an element of internal comfort and confidence in tomorrow.

And besides everything else, the stability of the exchange rate helps preserve the purchasing power of money, protecting the population's savings from depreciation. Apparently, the high reputation of the manat is already affecting consumer sentiment. For depositors, the consistency of our monetary unit is a kind of sign: deposits in it no longer cause former concerns, but on the contrary, are perceived as a reliable and profitable way to preserve and increase savings. People increasingly choose in favor of the local currency, considering it not just convenient, but also predictable.

And if a few years ago a significant part of the population's deposits was in foreign currency, now the situation is noticeably changing. The majority of our depositors choose the manat, and this is no coincidence. Confidence in exchange rate stability and low inflation make national deposits particularly attractive.

Fixing Stability

However, the very formulation of the question about exchange rate stability requires clarification. The modern world economy is too closely intertwined with geopolitics and the volatility of energy prices