Currency reserves of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) decreased by $127.2 million (3.08 percent) to $4.005 billion in October 2016 as compared to September, says the CBA statistical data posted on its website Nov. 2.

The Central Bank’s currency reserves have decreased by 1.011 billion manats, or by 20.2 percent since early 2016, according to the CBA.

The reduction in CBA’s currency reserves began in June 2014. The reduction was at a slower rate (in the range of $20-50 million) at the beginning, but a sharp decline in the volume of reserves began in December 2014 due to an increase in demand for dollar in the country.

The reduction of currency reserves is related, in particular, to the intervention carried out by the CBA in the currency market to keep the exchange rate of Azerbaijani manat against the US dollar at a stable level.

During 2016, the volume of currency reserves increased by 0.9 percent in March, by 1.35 percent in April, by 3.97 percent in May and by 0.7 percent in August.