After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the International Monetary Fund suspended Kabul's access to IMF resources because of the uncertain political situation.
"There is currently confusion within the international community about the recognition of a government in Afghanistan, which means that the country has no access to SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) or other IMF resources," said an IMF spokeswoman on Wednesday.
An allocation of special drawing rights of $ 650 billion to all eligible members is planned for Monday. The Taliban will then probably not have access to the Afghan share, which according to the head of the Afghan central bank, Adschmal Akhmady, who has fled abroad, amounts to 340 million dollars. A $ 370 million loan program from the IMF, which was intended to boost Afghanistan's economy during the Corona crisis, has also been suspended.
According to Achmady, the Afghan central bank's foreign exchange reserves amount to around $ 9 billion.
However, much of the money is located outside of Afghanistan, Achmady said on Twitter.
The majority is held in the form of gold or US government bonds at the US Federal Reserve in New York, at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and through the World Bank and other accounts.
The US central bank alone holds 7 billion dollars
Dollar supplies also affected
An American government official had already stated on Monday: "The Afghan government's central bank reserves, which are in the US, will not be made available to the Taliban." " be. Dollars in the form of cash are hardly available there. The value of the Afghan currency fell sharply when the Islamists took over.
"Afghanistan's international reserves have never been compromised in any way," tweeted Ahmadi. No reserve account had been stolen. He could not imagine a scenario in which the US Treasury Department or its control agency, OFAC, would grant the Taliban access to such funds The Taliban were still on international sanctions lists, so it was to be expected that assets would be frozen and the Taliban would not have access to them. "We can say that the funds available to the Taliban may be 0.1-0.2 Percent of Afghanistan's total international reserves are. Not much, "said Ahmadi.
A government official of US President Joe Biden said: "Any central bank assets that the Afghan government has in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban." Public institutions and government offices are nation-owned and should be closely guarded. Central banks in developing countries often park assets overseas with institutions such as the US Federal Reserve or the Bank of England.
Gold in the presidential palace too
The Afghan Central Bank's foreign currency reserves of $ 362 million consist almost entirely of the US currency. They were most recently stored in the headquarters and branches of the central bank as well as in the presidential palace in Kabul, which is now in the hands of the Taliban. Almost 160 million dollars in gold bars and silver coins were also kept in the presidential palace, according to the annual report.
According to Unesco, 2000-year-old gold jewels, ornaments and coins of the so-called Bactrian treasure were also stored in the treasury of the Afghan central bank. The around 21,000 archaeological artifacts were thought to be lost until 2003. But then they were discovered in a secret vault in the basement of the central bank. The archaeological finds remained undiscovered under the earlier Taliban rule.
As one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan is heavily dependent on aid funds. According to the World Bank, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) was $ 19.81 billion in 2020, of which aid funds made up nearly 43 percent. However, after the Taliban came to power, several countries announced that they would freeze aid funds. Germany, one of the most important donor countries, also stopped its payments on Wednesday.