WASHINGTON, Aug 19 — Despite its swift takeover of the government in Afghanistan, the Taliban will not have access to most of the nation’s cash and gold stocks, while the IMF announced it won’t provide aid. A spokesperson for the Washington-based crisis lender on Wednesday said it had decided...
WASHINGTON, Aug 19 — Despite its swift takeover of the government in Afghanistan, the Taliban will not have access to most of the nation’s cash and gold stocks, while the IMF announced it won’t provide aid.
Central bank governor Ajmal Ahmady said on Twitter the Da Afghanistan Bank had around US$9 billion in reserves, but most of that is held overseas, out of reach of the Taliban. A US administration official told AFP on Monday that “any central bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.”
“Please note that in no way were Afghanistan’s international reserves ever compromised,” and are held in accounts that are “easily audited,” Ahmady said.The IMF’s aid would include an existing US$370 million loan program, as well as access to reserves in the form of Special Drawing Rights , the lender’s basket of currencies.
The IMF is set to distribute 650 billion in SDRs on August 23 to all eligible members, of which Afghanistan’s share was valued at about US$340 million, Ahmady said.
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