Azerbaijani Manat (AZN) cash
A bit of history
In its modern form, the manat was put into circulation in 1992. However, until the beginning of 1994, Soviet and Russian rubles also circulated in the country. The history of the name of the Azerbaijani currency is of particular interest.
The Azerbaijani ruble, initially in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and then in the Azerbaijan SSR in 1921-1923, was called "ruble" in Russian and "manat" in Azerbaijani. Moreover, the banknotes had Russian and Azerbaijani and sometimes French text, where the manat was also called "ruble".
In everyday life during the Soviet period, the word "manat" was also used to denote rubles.
The word manat itself comes from the Russian word "coin" and means "money". From the examples above, it is perfectly clear that this word denoted any currency used for settlements.
The modern Azerbaijani currency is called the "third manat" in several sources. "The first manat" in this interpretation is the one that was in circulation during the Civil War; the second is the national currency introduced in 1992. The third manat was put into circulation due to the 2006 monetary reform.
Then, the national currency of Azerbaijan underwent denomination. 5000 old manats were equated to one new manat. Replacing money signs in circulation took a whole year, but since the beginning of 2007, only "third generation" manats have been in circulation.
Monetary signs in circulation
One manat is equal to 100 qepiks. Cash manats are circulated only in the form of banknotes and gepiks — only in the form of coins.
Coins
Coins of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50 qepiks are circulating today. All modern coins (excluding commemorative coins) are steel, plated with either copper (1, 3 and 5 qepiks) or brass (10, 20 and 50 qepiks).
All coins have a map of Azerbaijan, the country's name and the coin's nominal value on the obverse. The reverse designs are extremely diverse: national musical instruments on the 1 qepik coin and the Maiden Tower (a 12th-century architectural monument in Baku) on the 5 qepik coin to oil wells on the 50 qepik coin.
Until 2022, Azerbaijan used a rather unusual practice — the coins did not bear the year of issue.
Banknotes
Banknotes in circulation have denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 manat. The design of modern banknotes is similar to Euro banknotes. It is quite understandable: the Central Bank of Azerbaijan ordered the Austrian designer Robert Kalina, who created the euro design, to develop the appearance of banknotes.
The reverse side of all banknotes depicts a map of Azerbaijan (the background is different on banknotes of various denominations). The design of the front side is variable and has no single theme: musical instruments (1 manat), architectural monuments and historical military attributes are depicted.
Not all banknotes are issued in Azerbaijan. Some of them are produced in the UK, at the facilities of the De La Rue company. The degree of dependence of the country on foreign supplies of banknotes is a closed information.
Mode of exchange rate of Azerbaijani manat (AZN)
The exchange rate of the Azerbaijani manat is tightly pegged to the US dollar. Since 2019, the exchange rate has been held at 0.5882 dollars per 1 manat. At the same time, the peg to the dollar at "around 0.6 USD" has been held since 2016.
The Azerbaijani government has not announced plans to switch to the market principle of forming the manat exchange rate.
What you can buy in Azerbaijan for cash
It is possible to pay with cash everywhere in Azerbaijan. The only exception is transactions between legal entities. Individuals can buy even real estate for cash.
The share of non-cash payments is continuously growing, but by the end of 2022, it is only 43.2 per cent. Although the government is actively working on digitalisation of payments, the role of cash will decrease in the foreseeable future.