Afghani up against dollar by 18pc in 2023

KABUL (Pajhwok): Pajhwok Afghan News findings show the value of the afghani against the US dollar surged by 18 percent in 2023.

Prices of food items decreased by more than 15 percent, fuel 12 percent and gold six percent compared to the previous year’s rates.

Afghani up against dollar

Haji Hussain, owner of the Sadaqat Money Exchange Company, said one US dollar accounted for 71.30afs. At this time last year, one dollar was equal to 86.80afs.

Moneychangers linked the increase in the value of the afghani to the supply of US dollars to the market by the central bank.

Abdul Rahman Zirak, spokesman for the moneychangers’ union in Sara-i-Shahzada, also tied appreciating afghani to the policy of the Da Afghanistan Bank.

He believed market control and surging dollar availability had contributed to the rise of the local currency against the greenback.

He noted: "Work on big projects, on which thousands of our compatriots are busy working, has started. These projects have also made the Afghan currency stable against the dollar."

Fuel prices

According to a worker of the Ahmadyar Group of Pump Stations, the price of one litre of petrol was 63afs and diesel 62afs.

Mohammad Sharif, a liquefied gas seller in Kalola Pushta locality, sold a kilogram of the commodity for 58afs.

Based on information obtained by Pajhwok, this time last year, the price of one litre of petrol was 69afs, diesel 73 afs and one-kilogram of gas 54afs.

Food items

The rates of some essential items, including sugar, increased, but the rates of other commodities like flour, rice and cooking oil remained unchanged in 2023.

Zmarai Safi, head of the Food Traders Union, said the current price of a 49-kilogram bag of Kazakh flour stood stable at 1,530afs, a 24.5-kilogram sack of Pakistani rice at 2,600afs afs, and a 16-litre tin of Malaysian cooking oil at 1,4300afs.

Based on figures from 2022, the price of a 49-kilogram bag of Kazakh flour stood at 1,800 afs, a 16-litre tin of Malaysian cooking oil at 1,750afs, a 24.5-kilogram sack of Pakistani rice at 3,000afs.

According to him, the current wholesale price of a 49-kilogram bag of Indian sugar is 3,100afs, compared to 3,000afs last year.

Rate of tea unchanged

Safi recalled in 2022, the price of one kilogram of African black tea was 400afs and the same quantity of Indonesian green team 350afs.

Gold prices

Mohammad Folad, a jeweller in the Timor Shahi area of Kabul, told Pajhwok the price of one gram of Arabian gold was 4,250afs and the same quantity of the Russian variety 3,200afs.

At this time in 2022, the price of one gram of Arabian gold was 4,450afs and the same quantity of the Russian variety 3,500afs.

He linked gold prices in Kabul to international market trends. In the solar year 1402, following aa increase in the value of the afghani, gold prices in Kabul had decreased and currently they have gone up globally.

sa/mud