AFGHANISTAN ECONOMIC FREEFALL. IT NEEDS SERIAL NUMBERS
AFGHANISTAN ECONOMIC FREEFALL. IT NEEDS FULL
AFGHANISTAN ECONOMIC FREEFALL. IT NEEDS FREE

Gas for the oven now costs twice as much as it did, and the owner of the building has told us he has to increase the rent because it is his only source of income.' 'In July, a hundredweight of flour cost 1,300 afghani, now it costs 2,300. 'But how is that supposed to work?' demands a furious Ihsanullah, who owns a bakery in northern Kabul. Fighting Back a Vast Flood with Bags of Sandīut the price of bread, that sacred staple of all Afghans and sold in Kabul from thousands of tiny bakeries, may not be increased.

AFGHANISTAN ECONOMIC FREEFALL. IT NEEDS FULL

'If somebody does show up, they’re only interested in the damaged fruits,' says one desperate vendor from behind his wagon full of shiny, deep-red pomegranates. Fall is harvest time for pomegranates in the country, but produce sellers, too, are waiting around for hours for customers. The number of beggars, particularly women, has exploded, and the streets of Kabul are lined with used washing machines, cabinets and pots that have been put up for sale – and which nobody is buying. SPIEGEL Media Menü SPIEGEL Media aufklappen.Alle Magazine Menü Alle Magazine aufklappen.

SPIEGEL-Heft Menü SPIEGEL-Heft aufklappen.Gutscheine Anzeige Menü Gutscheine aufklappen.Marktplatz Anzeige Menü Marktplatz aufklappen.Wissenschaft Menü Wissenschaft aufklappen.Formel 1 – Liveticker, Kalender, WM-Stand.Leaning back in his chair, he took a worn-out 20-afghani note from his wallet. It all adds up to a major headache for Abdul Qaher Faqiri, a Kabul-based businessman with projects involving importing goods and mining.

AFGHANISTAN ECONOMIC FREEFALL. IT NEEDS FREE

The statement said that, to rebuild confidence internationally, DAB needs to show it is free from political interference, has “appropriate” anti-money-laundering and terrorism-financing controls and submits to third-party assessment and monitors. This month, the State and Treasury departments issued a joint statement announcing the establishment of the Switzerland-based Afghan Fund, which “will protect, preserve, and make targeted disbursements” of half of the frozen reserves, using the $3.5 billion to stabilize the Afghan economy while keeping the money “out of the hands of the Taliban and other malign actors.” drone strike on a house in Kabul that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri in July, Washington paused discussions with DAB, Mehrabi said. In any case, talks are largely frozen for now: Following a U.S. dollars remain in demand in Afghanistan, although the local currency has not depreciated as much against the greenback as feared. “Who would deliver these afghanis to the central bank?” “But then we had logistical problems,” Mehrabi said. State and Treasury departments resulted in assurances to the PWPW that it wouldn’t run afoul of proscriptions. But it was suspended when the interim Taliban administration came into power and sanctions were imposed,” Mehrabi said. “The last tranche was supposed to be delivered last September. By the time of the Taliban takeover, PWPW had fulfilled 70% of the contract, said Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, a Washington-based member of the Afghan central bank’s governing board who was appointed by the previous government but continues serving under the Taliban. In January 2020, the then-Republic of Afghanistan had contracted the state-owned Polish Security Printing Works, or PWPW, to print 380 million banknotes equaling 10 billion afghanis for a contract worth more than $4 million. “That one even the central bank won’t take,” he said, shaking his head before putting it up to the sun for a closer look.Īfghanistan has become a cash-only society because of international sanctions, but much of the local currency is falling apart.

AFGHANISTAN ECONOMIC FREEFALL. IT NEEDS SERIAL NUMBERS

A third wasn’t much better, the victim of a bad cut-and-paste job that left its color scheme - and serial numbers - mismatched. Another looked more Scotch tape than bill. “Out of every 10,000 afghani bills here, maybe 1,000 of those bills are still OK to use,” he said, pointing to a 100-afghani note faded to the point that one side seemed plain. In a country so sanctioned that much of its own cash is out of reach, he sat cross-legged in a corner of Kabul’s main foreign-exchange market, sifting through a pile of what looked like paper trash but was actually a disaster area of distressed afghanis, Afghanistan’s currency. Remember cash? These days, when a wand-like wave of a phone or credit card gets you a cup of coffee or more, it’s easy to forget what actual bills look like - and the abuse they receive in an average five-year life span.

Afghanistan economic freefall. it needs