Novruz festivities have become more expensive this year.
Turan
reported that the costs associated with celebrating Novruz have increased by 38% this year. In 2015, a family of four would spend 60 manats on the celebratory dinner, according to Turan. This years, it costs an average family 86 manats to prepare the Novruz dinner, which amounts to 15.7% of the monthly minimum wage. Last year, the holiday preparations cost about 12% of the monthly minimum wage.
Azerbaijan witnessed two major devaluations of the national currency within one year, which took a heavy toll on citizens’ purchasing power.
The rising prices affected not only celebrants’ dinner diets but also vacation plans, according to
Kavkaz Uzel
. Azerbaijanis get five days off during Novruz, and many usually make vacation plans during this season. However, with airfare prices skyrocketing, many prefer to stay local.
The current economic problems in Azerbaijan started in December 2015, when the Central Bank abandoned its currency peg to the dollar. On December 22, the manat lost 32 percent of its value in one day.
On Jan.29,
Standard & Poor’s
downgraded Azerbaijan’s credit rating to speculative or “junk.” The credit rating agency forecasted that the Azerbaijani economy would contract in 2016 for the first time in two decades “as exports decline while consumption falls in the wake of sizeable manat devaluation.”
