02.01.2003 - Source: BBC News

The government hopes the new currency will boost its control over monetary policy ("Afghans ditch old banknotes") [#12270],  [ID 218]

Document(s): Open document

31.10.2002 - Source: UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

UNAMA: Afghanistan Currency Exchange Operation ("Afghanistan Weekly Situation Report for Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction (25 - 31 October 2002)") [#9491],  [ID 219]

"In total, the Da Afghanistan Bank (Central Bank) has exchanged (on a nationwide level) approximately 1 - 1.3 Trillion old (Afs) against 1 - 1.3 Billion new Afs. The destruction of the old notes is slightly 'backlogging'; up to date approximately 500 Bn old Afs has been destroyed (with shredding machines as well as with incinerators).
The process is fairly on track with around 20 - 25 Exchange Points (EP) around the country active (in process to be expanded during the coming week(s) to, in total, 47 EPs). In addition to the EPs, around 1,200 money traders are active in exchanging the old currency to the new with the general public."

Document(s): Open document
unama_weekly_25_31_october2002.pdf

13.09.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

IWPR: New currency to be introduced by October 7 ("All Change for Afghan Currency") [#28899],  [ID 220]

"The government is to introduce new bank notes next month as part of a 1,000 percent devaluation of its currency, in an attempt to curb inflation and drive counterfeiters out of business.
The new money, produced using advanced anti-forgery technology, is the result of cooperation between central bank the International Monetary Fund and foreign economists.
The move has been welcomed by businessmen and residents in the capital and is especially good news for Kabul’s exhausted moneychangers, who are obliged to carry enormous sacks of cash around with them in order to buy just a handful of US dollars.
Afghanistan is a cash-only trading nation, with no facilities for using cheques or credit cards. A costly item such as a car requires enough notes to fill the inside of the vehicle - with a few bags to spare.
The government hopes that the move will put the brakes on Afghanistan’s galloping inflation.
[...]Afghans are being given only two months from October 7 to change their old money for new. “The bank will have hundreds of collection points in all the provinces,” Afghanistan Bank president Anwarul Haq Ahadi told IWPR.
“We will inform the population through radio, television and posters and our campaign will reach every region and every village. After December 5, the old bills will no longer be valid. From then, all transactions must be carried out with the new afghanis.” The new notes, to be introduced on October 7, come in nine denominations ranging from one afghani to 1,000. Their design commemorates scenes such as Paghman’s memorial to troops killed fighting the British in 1919, Kandahar airport and the shrine in Mazar-e-Sharif. The notes are different colours and slightly different sizes from the ones in circulation. Unusually, the bank has even agreed to exchange the openly forged notes in circulation in the north of the country. Known as jumbeshi, they are printed by General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the northern warlord and leader of the Jumbesh-e-Melli Islami, the main Uzebk party based in Mazar-e-Sharif. “There are lots of jumbeshi and (forged) afghanis in the northern provinces. They are roughly half the value of the official currency, and we will buy them for the market price,” said Ahadi."

Document(s): Open document