Newly printed Afghani banknotes will soon replace the current ones in circulation, according to the Taliban-run Central Bank of Afghanistan.
The issuance of new banknotes will be based on reasonable monetary policies that are balanced with economic growth and market necessity, according to the central bank’s announcement, which was released on Saturday, October 22.
The old banknotes will be systematically accumulated and withdrawn from circulation in accordance with already existing procedures, the announcement said.
Afghanistan currently faces a significant issue with the circulation of foreign currency, and banks are also constrained from making cash payments.
The new banknotes’ printing location and process are undisclosed. However, Thomas West, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan, stated during a virtual meeting that Washington is collaborating with international organizations, particularly the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to develop the framework for printing Afghan currency.
Because Afghanistan’s banking system is not connected to the global financial system, he continued that his country places a strong emphasis on transactions as a priority.
He added that the decision to transfer and replace old currency with new currency was made on Thursday, but he added that he was unsure of the precise date that it would be made available to the public.
“I don’t have a great sense of exactly when those banknotes are going to show up in Afghanistan, but we are going to continue supporting the priority transaction,” West said.
The Central Bank of Afghanistan’s reserves, which were frozen after the Taliban took control, was recently transferred by the US to a Swiss-based trust fund in the amount of 3.5 billion dollars.
The Afghan foreign reserves, which were kept in an American bank during the Taliban’s rule, were frozen at $7 billion. The US has transferred half of this money to a bank in Switzerland, where it is overseen by a board that includes Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, a member of the Supreme Council of the Central Bank, and Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, a former finance minister and head of the Central Bank of Afghanistan.
