A number of Kabul residents on Monday complained about the circulation of old banknotes in daily market trading.
The Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank, says that out of 158 billion Afghanis circulating in the country, twenty billion Afghanis are small banknotes.
“All banknotes are old, but 10 and 20 banknotes are very old,” said Nasrullah, a resident of Kabul.
“We always have problems with buyers with old bank notes–some do not accept the money,” said Jahanzeb, a resident of Nangarhar.
Residents say that besides their age, the shortage of banknotes with denominations from 10 to 100 Afghanis in the markets is a major challenge.
They say that no one is currently ready to take one to five Afghanis banknotes, and that the central bank has no plan for this issue.
“When we are giving 100 Afghanis for a driver, they say we don’t have change,” said Noor Agha, a vender in Kabul.
But central bank statistics show that for the past seven years the bank has accumulated fifty-three billion Afghanis and has destroyed them.
“If people cooperate and make proper use of the money, it can make Afghan money work longer,” said Sharifullah Shegewal, DAB spokesman.
However, a number of parliamentarians say that the process of collecting old bank notes and burning them is not based on a transparent plan and there is a possibility that old bank notes flow back into the market.
