KABUL (SW) – Khalil Sidiq, governor of the Da Afghanistan Bank, was summoned on Saturday by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) to brief the members about decline in value of afghani and circulation of Pakistani rupee and Iranian tuman in some provinces.
Some of the members criticized the performance of the DAB in this regard. Azeem Mohsini and Mirdad Najrabi, two such members, said on the occasion the central bank has failed to stop the circulation of foreign currencies in a number of provinces. They dubbed the circulation of foreign currencies as a gross violation of the sovereignty of the country.
Responding to the remarks of the WJ members, Khalil Sidiq said it is not the legal duty of DAB to regulate the currency value. He informed the members the decline in value of afghani against dollar is caused by other factors such as gape between imports and exports, and gross domestic income. He added the uncertainty in Afghanistan coupled with rise in value of the USD in global market have resulted in afghani losing its value.
The DAB governor informed the house, the central bank has injected up to $ 300 million additional into the open market, and a total of $ 1.1 billion to stabilize the value of afghani.
About the reforms drive in banking sector, he said a mechanism has been devised to improve service delivery in private and public sector banks, and corrupt elements have been terminated. About the circulation of rupee and tuman, the DAB governor said there are no legal glitches in this regard, and same is happening in many other countries in the world.
ENDS
