Afghanistan: Taliban start paying civil servants again
Afghans wait outside a bank to withdraw money, in Kandahar, September 20, 2021. © AFP - JAVED TANVEER
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
As the country's economy collapsed, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance of the new Taliban regime in power, has just announced the resumption of payment of salaries to Afghan officials.
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The government will pay the salaries of the three calendar months since the change of regime in mid-August into the accounts of civil servants.
A month of income will be added for those who had not been paid the month before by the previous government.
Officials will not be able to withdraw their money, however: authorities continue to limit cash withdrawals from banks in Afghanistan to $ 200 or $ 400 per week due to lack of available cash.
"
The banking system is not paralyzed, it just needs time to function normally again
", assured the spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance, Ahmad Wali Haqmal, during a press conference in Kabul.
In addition, he added, the government will pay pensions again as soon as the government computer servers are operational again.
Meraj Mohammad Meraj, one of the directors of the ministry, also announced the establishment of a
national
zakat
,
a
Islamic contribution (generally a percentage of the contributor's income), in particular to finance aid to the poorest and orphans.
►
To listen: More and more Afghans are fleeing their country for Europe via Iran
The economy is only turning "
20-25%
" of its previous level
Since the Taliban returned to power last summer, the Afghan economy has collapsed.
On the one hand, the United States froze nearly $ 9.5 billion in the country's central bank assets.
On the other hand, international aid, which financed 75% of the Afghan government's budget, stopped overnight.
The government's announcement comes as it says it has garnered nearly $ 277 million in the past three months from customs and corporate tax revenues.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the economy is only “
20-25%
” of its previous level, but revenues are proportionately “
better than under the previous government
”.
►
To read: In Afghanistan, public health on the verge of collapse
Risk of famine this winter
The Taliban government has still not been recognized by the international community, as Western countries do not want to be seen as supporting a regime which, among other things, prohibits the education of girls and wants the reintroduction of all the punishments of the sharia.
But the country is now facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet.
More than half of its population is at risk of not having enough to eat this winter.
►
To listen: In Afghanistan, "
the malnutrition which will affect 1 million children is only the tip of the iceberg
"
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Afghanistan
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