BAKU: Azerbaijan’s national currency, the manat, is projected to maintain its exchange rate of approximately 1.7 to the US dollar until the end of 2028, according to recent forecasts from the Ministry of Economy and supporting analyses by international financial institutions.

According to Trend News Agency, the Ministry of Finance’s data suggests a continuous stability in the exchange rate of the manat against the US dollar, mirroring the current rate through to 2028. This projection is supported by the Ministry of Economy’s macroeconomic forecasts, which also anticipate the currency maintaining its current value. “In the macroeconomic forecasts presented by the Ministry of Economy, it is anticipated that the exchange rate of the manat to the US dollar will stay stable and aligned with this year’s level,” the ministry indicated.

Further affirming this outlook, analysts from Dutch banking group ING predict that Azerbaijan will sustain a de facto peg of the manat to the dollar at the rate of 1.7 manat to one
dollar at least until the end of 2026. This sentiment is echoed by international rating agency S and P Global Ratings and the Asian Development Bank, which both foresee the national currency remaining linked to the dollar through 2026.

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan initially fixed the manat’s exchange rate at 1.7 to the dollar in 2017 as a strategic move to control inflation, indicating a planned long-term stabilization of the currency in relation to the US dollar.