KABUL (SW) – While the Da Afghanistan Bank has increased the amount of cash withdrawal limits to 600 dollars and 50,000 afghanis per week, customers of private bank say they have been made to struggle to withdraw.
Mumtaz Alakozay, one of the customers of Maiwand Bank, told Salam Watandar that he can withdraw only 100 dollars from his account once a week or once in two weeks. He added: “We could not withdraw our one thousands of dollars for two years. Sometimes they give only 100 dollars once a week. We are facing a lot of problems. We have to pay the employee’s their salaries and we have to buy raw materials.”
Metin Baig, a customer of Azizi Bank, said that his money is stuck in this bank and he can only withdraw $100 a week. According to him, private banks do not implement the orders of the central bank and sometimes do not even pay $100 a week to their customers.
Recently, DAB increased the amount of withdrawal limits from corporate accounts from $25,000 to $40,000 per week, but the owners of corporate accounts also say that this action of the central bank has not been implemented so far.
Rahman Rahmani, who has a company account in one of the private banks, said that he has not been able to withdraw money from his account for a year and a half. He added that now he is facing a problem even to meet the needs of his family because every time he went to the bank to withdraw money, he was told to wait.
Rafi Ebrahimi, another corporate account holder, said that he lost his business because his money was stuck in the bank. He added: “It’s been about a year and a half that I haven’t received even one afghani. We have many problems. How much should a company have to be active while 90% of their money is locked up in banks. We have problems with taxes, we have problems with electricity, we are in debt with the electricity bill.”
Meanwhile, Hasibullah Noori, the spokesman of the DAB, says that these problems will be solved soon. He added: “The leadership of the central bank meets with the officials of commercial banks every week and asks them to provide the best services to customers. I assure my people that the existing problems will be put to an end soon.”
A source in Azizi Bank has told Salam Watandar that the banking sector in the country is facing liquidity problems on top of the international sanctions.
ENDS
