Azerbaijan banking sector liquidity surplus more than doubles

The Azerbaijani banking sector’s structural liquidity surplus reached 6 billion manats at the end of the first half of 2026, up 2.1 times from December 2025, the central bank said.

The figure excludes funds held as mandatory reserves. The central bank said the surplus indicated that banks had significant lending capacity.

The average daily AZIR rate stood at 6.43% in May and June and at 6.39% in July to date. Short-term rates in the unsecured money market remained within the central bank’s interest rate corridor.

The regulator mainly uses seven-day deposit operations to manage liquidity. Such operations accounted for 84.3% of its open-market sterilisation portfolio at the end of June.

The central bank also reported a decline in note yields over the past three months and lower interest rates on newly attracted manat-denominated term deposits compared with July last year.

N.Tebrizl