Azerbaijan's Central bank to announce its first interest rate decision of the year

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) will make its first decision on the key interest rate in 2026 on February 4, The Daily Baku reports, citing the CBA.

In its previous decision on December 10, the Central Bank lowered the key rate and other parameters of the interest rate corridor by 0.25 percentage points. The key rate was reduced to 6.75%, the lower bound of the interest rate corridor to 5.75%, and the upper bound to 7.75%.

he CBA noted that the next decision on the parameters of the interest rate corridor will be based on the direction of forecast and actual inflation, as well as updated results of macroeconomic analyses.

It should be recalled that the Netherlands’ largest financial group, ING Group, forecast in a report on Azerbaijan released last week that the CBA would keep the key interest rate unchanged at its next decision: “No changes in monetary policy are expected in the near term, and it is highly likely that the Central Bank of Azerbaijan will keep the key rate unchanged at 6.75% at its February 4 meeting. A rate cut is considered possible only amid sustained disinflation and strengthened fiscal discipline.”