Afghanistan’s banking system is near to collapse, the boss of one of the nation’s biggest lenders has told the BBC.
Syed Moosa Kaleem Al-Falahi, the Chief Executive of the Islamic Bank of Afghanistan, said the country’s financial industry is in the grip of an “existential crisis” as customers panic.
“There’s huge withdrawals happening at the moment”, he said, speaking from Dubai, where he is temporarily based because of the chaos in Kabul.
“Only withdrawals are happening, most of the banks are not functioning, and not providing full services,” he added. Afghanistan’s economy was already on shaky ground even before the Taliban took control in August.
It is hugely dependent on foreign aid – about 40% of its gross domestic product (GDP) comes from international aid, according to the World Bank.
But since the Taliban takeover, the West has frozen international funds, including assets Afghanistan could have accessed with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). —Zawya News
