A French company specializing in secure documents will print new banknotes worth 10 billion Afghanis as part of a $15 million agreement with the Taliban-controlled Afghan central bank.
The company, Oberthur Fiduciaire, will supply 390 million banknotes worth 10 billion Afghanis, but the delivery dates are not yet definitively fixed, Radio France International, rfi, reported on Tuesday.
Back in October, Anwarul Haq Ahadi, a trustee of Afghanistan Fund, told Amu that new banknotes worth 100 billion Afghanis will be printed in France. Another 10 billion worth of new banknotes will be printed in Poland, he said.
The French media outlet reports that the discussions on the $15 million deal were initiated ahead of the fall of Kabul with the previous government, and were finalized in Doha with the new team of the Da Afghanistan Bank.
An expert, Siyar Quraishi, said cash deals dominate the market in Afghanistan which leads to the damage of banknotes in a short time.
“Two years ago, the Afghan central bank signed a deal with a German company to print new banknotes worth 100 billion Afghanis. Then it signed another contract with a Polish company…. And the last contract was with a French company,” he said.
Another analyst, Sayed Massoud, said the new banknotes will address the lack of cash in the market but it will not be a long-term solution.
Earlier this month, a Polish company started the transfer of new banknotes worth 10 billion Afghanis to Afghanistan.
