Economic analysts welcome printing of new afghani banknotes

KABUL (Pajhwok): Economic affairs experts say the arrival of freshly-printed afghani banknotes in the market will be a good move and will have no impact on prices because they will replace old notes.

Earlier, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West said the newly-printed banknotes would enter Afghan markets, replacing worn-out bills.

In a statement on Sunday, the central bank said the issuance of the new banknotes was based on reasonable policies.

Releasing the freshly-printed notes was necessary for the country’s economic growth and cash circulation in the market, the statement added.

The central bank said the damaged banknotes would be collected systematically.

Mohibullah Sharif, economic affairs expert, called the printing of the new banknotes and their injection to the market as a good move, saying the old and damaged notes created problems for people.

According to reports, last year before the political change, one US dollar consumed 79.70 afghanis, but after the fall of the previous government, the price of one US dollar increased to 130 afghanis.

After some time, the greenback value reduced to 102 afghanis and today one US dollar is exchanged for 88.10 afghanis.

When asked if the new notes would have any impact on the exchange rate of the afghani and prices of daily use items, Mohibullah Sharif said: “In general, it will not have much effect on the prices in market because the Bank of Afghanistan has already announced that it would replace the old notes.”

Qais Mohamamdi, another analyst of economic affairs, also said usually new banknotes were presented to the market for collection of old banknotes and they should not have any negative impact on prices, inflation and the value of afghani and people’s lives.

“If the new banknotes are introduced to the market and old ones are not collected, then the prices of goods may raise and inflation may occur… and it will also affect the value of the afghani against the dollar.”

Former Da Afghanistan Bank chief Wahid Nawsher told media that the agreement to print new banknotes was previously made with the Polish Security Printing Works (PWPW) and it was believed that three billion afghani new banknotes which are 20 afs notes and 100 bills will be handed over to Afghanistan by the end of 2022.

sa/ma