BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 12. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) held 92 note auctions in the first half of 2026.
This is reflected in a report released by the CBA.
According to the report, in the mentioned period, the CBA mainly used seven-day deposit operations to neutralize the impact of autonomous factors on monetary conditions and support the AZIR index in forming on a trajectory close to the refinancing rate. A total of 48 deposit auctions were held from January through June 2026, with an average volume of 1.4 billion manat ($0.8 billion).
The report noted that auctions for the placement of notes with various maturities — 28 days (one month), 84 days (three months), 168 days (six months) and 252 days (nine months) — continued as part of open market operations.
"During the reporting period, a total of 92 note auctions were held, with 23 auctions for each maturity. The total volume of the CBA’s note portfolio stood at 484 million manat ($284.7 million) at the end of the period, up 113 million manat ($66.5 million) from the end of last year. Yields on short-term notes also declined during the period. Thus, yields formed at the latest auctions held in June 2026 fell across all maturities compared with the end of last year. The yield on 28-day notes declined from 6.75% to 6.54%, on 84-day notes from 6.68% to 6.49%, on 168-day notes from 6.80% to 6.48%, and on 252-day notes from 6.85% to 6.50%," the information said.
The CBA also said that the continued application of reserve requirements under an averaging regime during the reporting period supported banks in managing liquidity more flexibly.
"According to monitoring results, the average balances of banks’ correspondent accounts with the CBA in both local and foreign currencies during the reporting period exceeded the amount of funds required to be held as mandatory reserves. These figures indicate that the banking sector has sufficient liquidity. During the reporting period, the banking sector operated amid excess liquidity. Thus, excluding funds required to be held as mandatory reserves, the sector’s structural liquidity surplus — the difference between the CBA’s liabilities to the banking system and its claims on banks — reached 6 billion manat ($3.5 billion) at the end of the first half of this year, increasing 2.1-fold compared with December last year. This indicates that banks’ lending capacity remains sufficiently high. Overall, the monetary operations conducted by the CBA in the first half of 2026 ensured effective liquidity management in the banking system and achievement of the operational targets of monetary policy. During the remainder of this year, monetary policy instruments will continue to be applied, taking into account liquidity conditions in the banking system, the macroeconomic environment, and trends in financial markets," the report added.
