Tech News

The economic crisis in Afghanistan threatens to worsen a humanitarian catastrophe

[ad_1]

It was an important project: the Afghan economy is financially functioning, with only 10% and 15% of the population having a bank account. The APS wanted to make Afghanistan less dependent on money, make economic transactions safer and more efficient, and help real banking to more people. And, Khademi says, he was moving fast before the U.S. withdrew its forces and the Taliban took power.

Now, however, as chaos is raging in Afghanistan, the project has stalled and money is running out before viable alternatives are put in place.

According to Khademi, another result was available: Afghanistan could face the XXI century with money that may have been missing for a year or two. To be a digital banking infrastructure of the century. He says his team was “very committed and hardworking,” regularly working 17-hour days to achieve rapid growth. “They were very passionate about the economy to stand up to.”

“We hoped that our efforts would bear fruit,” he says through tears. “It seems like everything has been in vain, everything we’ve done. It seems like a dream, but now it’s never going to come true.”

Frozen assets

The money crisis is not an accident. Most of the assets of the previous government in Afghanistan have since been frozen in offshore accounts to prevent access by the Taliban. According to former Central Bank Governor Ajmal Ahmady. The U.S. has prevented the Taliban, which is on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list, from accessing other funds. Freezing the Afghan government’s money reserves and suspension of the planned sending of cash. Many Afghans have been expecting a situation like this for weeks, as they lined up in the banks for long periods of time as citizens worried about the future, depriving them of money.

ATM activity went through the roof. “Friends [who work in banks] he said he usually did hundreds of transactions a day, thousands were doing it, ”says journalist Ruchi Kumar, a contributor to the MIT Technology Review who worked in Kabul for eight years, but recently fled the country.

Problems caused by lack of money are piling up. The U.S. dollar is becoming increasingly scarce, the value of Afghan money is declining and, according to Khademi, the price of basic goods is staggering. Money is still in circulation — Afghanistan has it large informal banking system, run unlicensed local currency traders. Sources say they are still working, but without banking activity, there will soon be a tight money supply.

Some outsiders are trying to fill the gap by running online fundraising campaigns, while others are equal He suggested that the cryptocurrency could be introduced in a vacuum.

But the country has become more difficult to get money in from abroad. Western Union, the largest money transfer company in the world, has extended services in Afghanistan, and NBC MoneyGram has also reportedly suspended operations there. Meanwhile, some foreign crowdfunding websites, such as GoFundMe, have been accused of “unfair” behavior. blocking some fundraising efforts while for the country letting others move forward.

“I didn’t think this day would come”

While digital alternatives have largely not filled the gap left by the collapse of money, there have been some opportunities to support alternative services.

Journalist Kumar says vulnerable Afghans use services like WasalPay – an online payment system to bill for electrical services – to collect phone credit.

It is used to send money that people in distress can use to stay connected. Its network includes journalists, activists and human rights defenders; They can use WasalPay to raise funds abroad, from individual donations and contributions, or from larger sources, such as the International Women’s Media Foundation.



[ad_2]

Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button