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Karzai signs law letting foreign banks into Afghanistan
Kabul, Sept 17: President Hamid Karzai has approved a law allowing foreign banks to set up in Afghanistan, a move designed to persuade afghans to bring back billions of dollars from abroad to boost reconstruction after 20 years of war.
Kabul, Sept 17: President Hamid Karzai has approved a law allowing foreign banks to set up in Afghanistan, a move designed to persuade afghans to bring back billions of dollars
from abroad to boost reconstruction after 20 years of war.
Officials said three banks would get operating
licences tomorrow: Standard Chartered of Britain, the
National Bank of Pakistan, and a micro-credit bank supported
by the Aga Khan Foundation.
"Afghans are rich people, but their money is all in other countries. I want them to bring their money to Afghanistan," Karzai said after signing the law yesterday.
Standard Chartered is set to become the first international bank to open in the war-ravaged country, where most large transactions involve suitcases full of cash.
Strong in developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the bank plans to open a branch in Kabul as soon as possible to handle transactions for import-export companies and the burgeoning international community, said John Jones, the bank's project director in Kabul.
The bank will introduce automatic teller machines and may eventually open branches in other major cities.
Afghanistan's banking system collapsed along with its Communist government in 1992, when the Islamic Mujahedeen captured Kabul. Afghans scrambled to move their money abroad, often to Pakistan, as the country headed into a decade of civil war.
Bureau Report
"Afghans are rich people, but their money is all in other countries. I want them to bring their money to Afghanistan," Karzai said after signing the law yesterday.
Standard Chartered is set to become the first international bank to open in the war-ravaged country, where most large transactions involve suitcases full of cash.
Strong in developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the bank plans to open a branch in Kabul as soon as possible to handle transactions for import-export companies and the burgeoning international community, said John Jones, the bank's project director in Kabul.
The bank will introduce automatic teller machines and may eventually open branches in other major cities.
Afghanistan's banking system collapsed along with its Communist government in 1992, when the Islamic Mujahedeen captured Kabul. Afghans scrambled to move their money abroad, often to Pakistan, as the country headed into a decade of civil war.
Bureau Report