An 18-person delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank arrived in Kabul on Sunday for three days of talks aimed at helping restart the comatose economy. The delegates held talks at the presidential palace with finance minister Hedayat Amin Arsala and Central Bank acting governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat, officials said. Fitrat earlier said that he would discuss issues including the balance sheets of the Central Bank, budgets, customs issues and balance of payments with the eight IMF and 10 world bank delegates. On Monday and on Tuesday the financiers are due to meet the ministers of planning, mines and industry and commerce, as well as officials of the department of statistics, he said. Since a power-sharing interim administration was inaugurated on December 22, the international community has resumed contact with Kabul and has promised to help rebuild the war-devastated country.
Fitrat said last week that the portion of the funds earmarked for government departments and the interim administration directly would be channeled through the Central Bank, and that the IMF and World Bank would manage part of the process. Bureau Report