KABUL: Central bank Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) has cited smuggling of US dollars from Afghanistan abroad as the reason behind devaluating Afghan currency.
One US dollar was accounted for 75.6 afghanis on March 24, the beginning of the new solar year, compared to 79.70 afghanis today.
The Meshrano Jirga or Senate summoned DAB head Khalil Seddiq, deputy customs head and head of the Major Crimes Task Force to brief senators about the reason of US dollar smuggling abroad and the fall in the Afghan currency value.
Khalil Seddiq said smuggling of US dollars abroad, lack of balance in imports and exports, the prolonged war and political instability in the country contributed to the depreciation of afghani.
He said hundreds of people were smuggling US dollars through Herat province to neighboring Iran and to the UAE through air on a daily basis.
Seddiq said a regulation was under work for determining the maximum amount of money one could transfer abroad.
“The ADB cannot help increase exports or solve political crisis in the country or improve security to boost economy and help the Afghan currency keep its stability”, he said.
He added the ADB currently could only collect unnecessary Afghan currency from markets in exchange of US dollars and prevent further depreciation of the afghani in future.
Abdullah Raqibi, deputy head of the country’s tax and customs, said a bill was under work for prevention of dollars smuggling and bringing reforms to the country’s customs.
Mohammad Hamid, head of Major Crimes Task Force, said that their officers had helped prevented smuggling of 1.08 billion US dollars from Afghanistan abroad over the last one year.
A number of senators said efforts made so far to prevent dollar smuggling abroad and stabilizing the Afghan were not enough.
