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.