MONITORING (SW) – Despite the ban on the use of foreign currency imposed by officials of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, the Pakistani and Iranian currencies remain in circulation in a number of provinces.
Residents of Paktia, Khost, Paktika, Nangarhar, Kandahar and Ghazni provinces say that with the rise to power by the Islamic Emirate, the use of foreign currency in these provinces has increased and citizens are doing all their business with the Pakistani rupees.
They call on the officials of the Islamic Emirate to stop this.
On the other hand, a number of residents of the western provinces of the country say that they also use Iranian currency instead of afghani in their daily transactions. They attribute this to the lack of afghani currency in the country’s markets.
Residents of the western provinces are also calling on the authorities of the Islamic Emirate to take action in this regard.
Abdul Qayum, a resident of Nimroz, told Salam Watandar: “Unfortunately, in Nimroz, most of the transactions that take place are via the Iranian toman. Because the Afghan currency is so scarce in the market; “That is, when the Afghan currency falls in the market, people are forced to use other currencies.”
Gholam Dastgir, a resident of Farah, also told Salam Watandar about this. “Toman is exchanged more than any other currencies. Even in some districts, such as Jund, Qala-e-Kah and Posht-e-Kuh, the normal daily transactions of people, i.e. buying and selling goods in shops and markets, are in tomans.”
These residents of the western and southeastern provinces of the country added that the use of other countries’ currencies has damaged the country’s economy and hurt more citizens under the prevailing difficult circumstances.
Meanwhile, local officials in some provinces say they have not yet been given a clear framework for using foreign currency.
“I am in direct contact with the Ministry of Finance, there are solutions in sight and we told the Ministry of Justice to legislate how much penalty is being determined for the use of foreign currencies,” said Herat Governor Noor Ahmad Islamjar. “Intelligence is working hard on this”, he added.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, the second deputy prime minister of the Islamic Emirate, announced at a press conference in Kabul that the use of afghani currency was mandatory in the country and that the utilization of foreign currencies remain banned.
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