Post by alefdracon on Aug 27, 2021 20:34:10 GMT 4
Afghanistan’s banks, critical to the country’s recovery from crisis, are facing an uncertain future say its bankers, with doubts over everything from liquidity to employment of female staff after the Taliban swept to power.
Banks were expected to reopen imminently, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday, after they were closed for some ten days and the financial system ground to a halt as the Western-backed government collapsed amid the pullout of U.S. and allied troops.
Yet there has been scant evidence so far of a reopening or of banking services returning to normal, with large crowds thronging the streets outside banks in Kabul on Wednesday.
“The banks continue to be closed – with no clear signs of reopening, they have run out of money,” said Gazal Gailani, trade and economic adviser at the Afghan embassy in London.
“Afghanistan’s banking system is now in a state of collapse, and people are running out of money.”
Many rural areas get by largely without banks. But in the cities, where government worker salaries are often paid into bank accounts, closures are causing hardship in a mostly cash-based economy
The outlook for lenders looks precarious, with looming questions about the Taliban’s grasp of finance and its ability to restart an economy shattered by 40 years of war.
Banks were expected to reopen imminently, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday, after they were closed for some ten days and the financial system ground to a halt as the Western-backed government collapsed amid the pullout of U.S. and allied troops.
Yet there has been scant evidence so far of a reopening or of banking services returning to normal, with large crowds thronging the streets outside banks in Kabul on Wednesday.
“The banks continue to be closed – with no clear signs of reopening, they have run out of money,” said Gazal Gailani, trade and economic adviser at the Afghan embassy in London.
“Afghanistan’s banking system is now in a state of collapse, and people are running out of money.”
Many rural areas get by largely without banks. But in the cities, where government worker salaries are often paid into bank accounts, closures are causing hardship in a mostly cash-based economy
The outlook for lenders looks precarious, with looming questions about the Taliban’s grasp of finance and its ability to restart an economy shattered by 40 years of war.