Kabul: The Afghan central bank said on Monday that the World Bank's third batch of monetary assistance has arrived, as part of the global lender's humanitarian obligations to the war-torn country.
The De Afghanistan Bank said in a statement on Sunday that the USD19.2 million was given to the Kabul-based Afghanistan International Bank (AIB), which is the country's largest bank and the only one with international transfers to all other countries. The cash support comes at a time when the Afghani, the local currency, is at an all-time low. One US dollar was worth 114 Afghanis on Sunday. The new cash will aid in the stabilisation of the Afghani.
The World Bank approved the transfer of USD280 million to Afghanistan on Friday, to be utilised by the World Food Programme and UNICEF in the health and food sectors. The US State Department said that it has issued a regulation allowing persons to transfer money to Afghanistan while also lifting sanctions on those involved in the transaction.
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated since the Taliban took control of the country on August 15 and formed a Taliban-led caretaker government on September 7. MoneyGram and Western Union are the only money transfer services that began operations in Afghanistan in September.
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