The bank reported a net profit of 139,592 million manats ($82 million) in 2021, 22 percent down from a year earlier.

The central bank said the annual inflation rate was expected to amount to around 12-14 percent by the end of the year, up from a previous projection of 8-9 percent.

In 2003 Kocharli opened her first bookstore on fountain square in downtown Baku. She christened her first store Ali & Nino after the popular classic Azerbaijani novel, about a romance between a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Baku during the years 1918–1920.

The Central Asian country's government has projected its gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 3.9 percent in 2022.