Business
Herat residents complain of rising old banknotes
Residents in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat province complain of rising number of old and damaged banknotes, saying such banknotes are not accepted in their daily business activities.
Herat Money Exchangers’ Union recently held a three-day strike for the same problem of refusal of old banknotes.
“The problem prevails everywhere. When a government employee tries to pay his electricity bill in a bank, they do not accept the old notes,” said Baryalai Ghawsi, a money exchanger.
“These banknotes should be accepted until the government prints new notes. In the past when the banknotes were new, people would immediately accept them, but now they carefully check and separate the old ones,” said Ghulam Hazrat, a money exchanger.
Residents also said that sellers don’t accept old banknotes when they do shopping.
“When we try to buy rice from a shop, they don’t accept the old banknotes. When we try to buy cooking oil or pay taxi fare, they don’t accept the old notes,” said Mohammad Ismail, a resident of Herat.
“The problem of old banknotes should be addressed by the central bank. People cannot solve it. The government should compensate losses incurred by the people” said Mohammad Azim, a resident of Herat.
Lal Gul, a shopkeeper in Herat, said that the government should either print new banknotes or take action against those who do not accept old banknotes.
Da Afghanistan Bank in a notice recently said that a banknote should be accepted if it is not damaged by 60 percent or more.
Business
Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan rise by 31% this solar year
Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period
Iran's non-oil exports to Afghanistan surged by 31% in the first half of this solar year (April to September 2024), totalling over $1.77 billion.
According to Iran’s trade association in Afghanistan, both the value and volume of non-oil exports to Afghanistan saw substantial growth.
Statistics provided by the association indicate that nearly 560,000 tons of Iranian goods, including iron, steel, cement, eggs, and potatoes, were exported to Afghanistan during this period.
Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period.
The primary exports to Iran included barley, corn, peanuts, and chilies.
Business
Private sectors of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan sign contracts worth $100 million
Private sectors of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan have signed contracts worth $100 million during the visit of an Afghan delegation to Almaty recently, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) announced on Thursday.
The agreements include the export of more than 2,000 tons of dried fruit, the export of fresh fruit, including pomegranates, and the export of cotton, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, said on X.
Mujahid said that the Islamic Emirate delegation during its recent visit to Kazakhstan signed a "road map of cooperation between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan in the fields of trade, industry, mining, energy, logistics, agriculture, telecommunications, health, higher education and humanitarian aid.”
He said Kazakhstan also assured that it would provide more facilities for the transit of Afghan goods to China and other countries through Kazakhstan.
The allocation of an area "as a logistics center for Afghan goods" in the port of Khargos was also part of the agreement between the two sides to facilitate the unloading and loading of Afghan traders' goods.
The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate also said that Kazakhstan will participate in the construction of the Torghundi-Herat, Kandahar-Spin Boldak and Mazar-e-Sharif-Kharlachi railway projects.
Mujahid added that Kazakhstan will also participate in the establishment of a trade and transit center in Herat province, which will be used to store and finance trade and transit goods. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has agreed to establish permanent expo centers for the sale of Afghan goods in various cities of Kazakhstan.
It is worth mentioning that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate led by Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, participated in the three-day exhibition of Afghanistan's domestic products, which was launched on October 21 in Almaty.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce recently announced that 23 tons of pomegranates from Kandahar province were exported to Almaty through the port of Torghundi.
Business
China resumes direct rail trade with Afghanistan
China resumed its direct freight rail services to Afghanistan on Thursday when a train loaded with goods left Nantong city in Jiangsu province.
The train, carrying commercial goods in 55 wagons, is heading for the northern Hairatan border in Balkh province, Yue Xiaoyong, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in a post on X.
Nantong is a central hub of the Belt and Road Initiative and is located north of Shanghai.
The resumption of the rail line was marked at a formal ceremony on Thursday with Yue and Bilal Karimi, the Afghan Ambassador to China, in attendance.
This comes after China recently announced plans to lift customs tariffs on Afghan exports to China by the end of this year, further strengthening trade ties between the two nations.
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