TALIBAN GOVERNMENT STARTS PAYING WORLD BANK AND ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK DUES

Sun 07 January 2024:

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) officials say they have started paying the World Bank and Asian Development Bank loans received by the former government.

The ministry has not stated the exact amount of these loans, but according to reports, Afghanistan owes 1.4 billion US dollars.

“The government owes some money to donors. At the same time, the nation’s debts are still on these donors. Before the donors asked us to pay the debts, our first request to them was that they should come to pay the nation’s debts first,” Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a spokesman for the finance ministry.

He also added that the loans that the government owes are less.

The ministry has added that it intends to pay the loans based on a specific policy.

Nasratullah Mahmood, general director of the treasury of the Ministry of Finance, also stated that they have made the financial institutions pay the debts of the Afghan people that remained due to incomplete projects.

“This year, we gave some of their money, including money of the World Bank, and a few days ago, we paid some money of the Asian Development Bank, and this is only on the basis that they are also obliged to pay people’s debts,” said Mahmood.

Economic experts meanwhile believe that due to the economic situation in the country, the government will not be able to pay the loans at once and it is necessary to take a special policy.

More than 50 percent of these loans were taken during the time of Hamid Karzai, the former president, and the other part was taken from foreign institutions and countries during the government of President Ashraf Ghani in 2017, 2019 and 2020, and the repayment period is said to be within 10 to 40 years.

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