The Management Board of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan kept the refinancing rate unchanged at 6.5%, maintaining the interest-rate corridor at 5.5%–7.5%, citing inflation still within the 4 ± 2 % target range but highlighting heightened upside risks from regional geopolitical tensions and global commodity-price volatility. After three consecutive 25 bp cuts since July 2025, the last of which in February 2026 brought the policy rate to its current level, the central bank has moved to a wait-and-see stance. Overnight unsecured money-market rates continue to trade inside the corridor and close to the policy rate, with the AZIR index easing to an average 6.47 % in March as the bank relied chiefly on weekly open-market operations to offset liquidity swings. Twelve-month headline inflation measured 5.7 % in February, with food prices up 6.8 %, services 5.7 % and non-food goods 3.7 %; core inflation stood at 5.6 %. The foreign-exchange market remains stable: during January–February cash FX purchases exceeded sales by USD 51 m, resident household dollarisation fell to 27.7 %, and official reserves rose 1.2 % to USD 11.7 bn, supported by a USD 1.1 bn trade surplus and expectations of current-account surpluses through 2027. The central bank notes that supply disruptions and higher energy and logistics costs could feed through to domestic prices, and it pledges to deploy all available tools and adjust the corridor parameters should actual or projected inflation diverge fr
Central Bank of Azerbaijan 2026-04-02
Azerbaijan central bank holds refinancing rate at 6.5%, corridor at 5.5%–7.5%
The Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan kept the refinancing rate at 6.5 % and the interest-rate corridor at 5.5–7.5 %, ending a run of three 25 bp cuts since July 2025. Citing February inflation of 5.7 % within its 4 ± 2 % target but rising geopolitical and commodity-price risks, the bank adopted a wait-and-see stance while pledging to adjust the corridor if price pressures escalate.