OREANDA-NEWS. October 28, 2008. An international banking conference entitled “CIS Financial Markets: Development and Strategy” has kicked off in Baku, reported the press-centre of IBA. 

Private investors and representatives attended the event from leading financial institutions, banks, private investors and government agencies.

Elman Rustamov, Chairman of the National Bank of Azerbaijan, said the conference will focus on solutions and ways for the CIS countries to bypass the global financial crisis that have adverse effects on the financial sector and on the economy as a whole.

According to Rustamov, a purposeful monetary policy is required in order to avoid the crisis.

“In some countries, they register growth without real economic development,” he said. “But this cannot be said about Azerbaijan. Over the past 5 years, GDP per capita grew to US6,000, the state budget increased by 9 times, and investments surged up by 23 times.

The impact of the global financial crisis was low on the banking system of Azerbaijan because the central bank began to take appropriate precautionary measures in as early as 2006. The world financial crisis is still ongoing. For this reason, it is important to increase the current liquidity and introduce new financial instruments.”

Jahangir Hajiyev, Chairman of International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), spoke of IBA’s activities, saying a number of social projects were financed over recent years.

“There are several major projects that are funded by the IBA,” he said. “Our goal is to reduce dependence on external financing. In total, a debt of more than US 500 million was repaid this year. IBA loaned, in total, US 250 million in the last one and a half years. Total borrowings from international financial institutions have been more than \\\\\\$1 billion in total.”

According to Hajiyev, there was no decrease in the bank’s clientele because of the global financial crisis.

“Central banks play a great role in tackling the financial crisis,” he said. “It is necessary to curb inflation and ensure high competitiveness. The coinciding of this conference with the crisis will give a real contribution to the CIS and other countries.”

The conference will discuss the organizational and structural support for banking systems in the global liquidity crisis and an enabling environment for interactive integration of banks and capitals in cross-border financial markets of the CIS countries. The CIS Finance and Banking Council organized the conference. The International Bank of Azerbaijan was its main sponsor.