Starting on February 21st, 2015 the official exchange rate of the dollar to the manat, the Azerbaijani national currency, has been set at 1.05 manat, which is 33.86 percent higher than the exchange rate set prior to the beginning of the exchange rate weakening process. The Azerbaijani national currency has been depreciated against US dollar for the first time since 2006. Since the sharp drop of crude oil prices in the world market in the fall of 2014, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan has faced the dilemma of either a sharp depreciation or a gradual devaluation of the manat. In fact, the Central Bank has announced that a sharp depreciation would not be in the government’s agenda in the near future. But, just two days after the Central Bank’s governor’s official declaration on not having a sharp depreciation, the national currency of Azerbaijan has lost its value against major foreign currencies by 33.86 %. The Manat’s rate dropped to 1.05 from 0.78 against to US dollar.
