YEREVAN, February 24. /ARKA/. One more CIS country, Azerbaijan, has devalued its currency.

The official manat versus dollar rate set by the country’s central bank was 1.05 manats per $1 on February 21 as compared to 0.7862 manats per $1 on February 20. This means 35% devaluation was recorded, setifinance.ru reported.

The decision was made to promote economic diversification, increase competitiveness and export potential and ensure viable balance of payments, said the central bank.

The official manat versus euro rate was set at 1.1950 manats per euro on February 21, as compared to 0.8934 manats per euro the day before.

Naturally, the devaluation affected the ruble rate set at 0.0170 manats per ruble on February 21, against 0.0127 manats per ruble the day before.

Manat devaluation was an expected measure as earlier the central bank said it will turn to more flexible rate policies. Yet, the chairman of the central bank board Elman Rustamov said any weakening will be soft.

As from February 16, Azerbaijan’s central bank turned to currencies’ basket with the share of euro at 30% in it. –0—