Finance

Finance

Azerbaijani President: "Maintaining manat at the same level was not possible"

11 January 2016 21:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. "In 2015, Azerbaijan’s economy developed. This is a very positive fact. Of course, the development that was achieved in previous years, was not observed. It was not possible," said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in 2015 and objectives for the future.

The head of state noted that the 3-4 fold drop in oil prices has affected the Azerbaijani currency: "The rate of manat suffered, a devaluation that was inevitable. However, in some neighboring countries, national currencies were devalued by 100 percent or more. In such circumstances, the products produced in Azerbaijan was losing its competitiveness, and it had a negative impact on our producers. Simply, to maintain manat at the same level was impossible. It was an inevitable step, the cause of which was outside. "

President Aliyev said that the sharp drop in oil prices on the world market can not be attributed only to economic factors: "The world economy has not fallen to the extent that oil prices have fallen. In my opinion, political factors mainly played the role. Someone with someone is struggling, and we suffer. This, of course, had a negative impact on our economy. But despite this, we will try to minimize the negative impact of exchange rate changes. "