Kabul, 16 September
A statement on Thursday said the Taliban handed over about $12.3 million in cash and some gold to the country’s central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB).
The cash and gold bars recovered from the homes of former administration officials and local offices of the former government’s intelligence agency have been returned to the treasury of Da Afghanistan Bank, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement as saying.
“The authorities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan proved their commitment to transparency by handing over the assets to the national treasury,” it said.
The statement also said that the acting governor of the central bank, Mohammad Idris, has assured the security of Afghan deposits in commercial banks.
Idris was quoted as saying, “The Afghanistan Bank assures our countrymen that all commercial banks operating in the country are under serious surveillance and are doing their operations better than ever before. Banks are completely safe. “
All commercial banks in the region and the world usually keep 10 per cent of their capital in the form of cash and use the rest in various commercial activities and provide useful services to their people, the statement said.
“Commercial banks in Afghanistan hold an average of 50 per cent of Afghan and foreign currency. Therefore, the banking sector is in good shape.”
“These banks have invested a certain amount at home and abroad to play a useful role in the economic development of Afghanistan,” the governor said.
The statement comes as thousands of customers have been trying to withdraw their savings since the Taliban takeover in mid-August.
Reports of the US freezing Afghanistan’s bank assets as well as withholding funds by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have raised concerns among Afghans.
On August 28, the central bank issued an order to all banks in the country setting a temporary limit of $200 or 20,000 Afghani withdrawals per customer per week.
IANS