Azerbaijani banks have 4.6B manat available for lending, CBA says

Azerbaijani banks can direct another 4.6 billion manat (about $2.7 billion), to lending, Central Bank of Azerbaijan, CBA, Chairman Taleh Kazimov said at a press conference, Report informs.

He recalled that excess liquidity in the banking sector, excluding required reserves, stands at 6 billion manat, about $3.5 billion.

"The banking sector fully complies with all our liquidity requirements. Even taking them into account, according to general calculations, the banking sector has 4.6 billion manat in free funds. Banks can direct these funds both to capitalization and lending," Kazimov said.

According to him, compared with June 2025, interest rates on newly placed deposits by individuals and legal entities decreased by 0.5 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. Interest rates on newly issued loans also declined.

Rates on new loans issued to individuals fell by 0.2 percentage points, while rates on loans to legal entities declined by 0.3 percentage points.

"The comparison with June 2025 is not accidental. Since that period, the CBA has begun lowering the policy rate and reduced it by a total of 0.75 percentage points over the year. This decision has affected both deposit and lending rates," Kazimov said.