Kandaharis switch to afghani after rupee’s sharp depreciation

KANDAHAR (Pajhwok): People have switched to doing transactions in the afghani in southern Kandahar province after the Pakistani rupee continuously lost its value and became unstable, money changers say.

Haji Qandi Agha, head of the money changers' union in Kandahar, told Pajhwok Afghan News the sudden depreciation of the Pakistani rupee locally known as kaldar inflicted losses on the people, but the positive thing was that many people had started using the afghani, which maintained its value.

"The depreciation of rupee means loss to the people because many people use this currency. However, the good thing is that people have started using the afghani instead of dollars and rupees in their daily transactions because the afghani remains stable,” he said.

He said the US dollar exchange rate increased from 100 rupees to 220 and 230 rupee, which was a big difference and the rupee remained unreliable, therefore people should do transactions and all businesses in the afghani.

Another money changer, Haji Ahmad, said people were worried that the afghani would lose its value after the political developments, but the Pakistani rupee lost its value in an unprecedented way, forcing people to switch to the afghani.

He said a large number of people daily visited him to convert the Pakistani rupees to the afghanis as they feared further deprecation of the rupee.

"The number of people visiting us has increased to change the Pakistani rupees into the afghanis, previously people kept dollars but now they have been keeping the afghani for being stable.”

Shopkeepers of food and non-food items in Kandahar also confirmed that now most of the people purchased items in the afghanis.

Agha Jan, a wholesale food store manager in Kandahar city, said in the past people coming from districts and other provinces would buy things in the rupees, but now they bought them in the afghani. He said many people had switched to the afghanis as they feared the rupee would further depreciate.

Kandahar residents say people should do transactions in their own national currency, so that its value is preserved and citizens saved from loss.

A resident, Fazal Ahmad, said people after suffering losses in the use of the rupee should stop using the currency.

"We witnessed  many people who incurred losses in the rupees, so they should learn a lesson and never use them again. They should do all transactions in afghanis."

Earlier all the transactions of land, real estate and other large businesses, including the purchase and sale of cars, were done in the rupee, but now the afghani is mostly used in these transactions in Kandahar.

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