World Bank suspends aid to Afghanistan

SANAA, Aug. 25 (YPA) –  World Bank announced on Tuesday the suspension of its aid to Afghanistan after the “Taliban” seized power in this country, noting that it was looking at at the same time ways to continue to support the Afghan people.

“We have suspended payments as part of our operations in Afghanistan, and we are closely monitoring and assessing the situation,” a World Bank spokeswoman told AFP.

“We are very concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and its repercussions on the country’s development prospects,” she added.

The spokeswoman did not clarify the amount of the payments that the World Bank was scheduled to pay before the Taliban seized power in Kabul, noting that the Bank had been financing about 20 development projects in Afghanistan until then.

Since 2002, the World Bank has provided Afghanistan a total of $5.3 billion, the bulk of which is in grants.

On August 18, the International Monetary Fund announced the suspension of aid allocated to Afghanistan due to the uncertainty surrounding the scene there, as he put it.

At the time, a spokesman for the Fund told AFP that “there is currently a lack of clarity in the international community regarding the recognition of a government in Afghanistan, and therefore this country cannot benefit from the Special Drawing Rights or other resources of the International Monetary Fund.”

The IMF was to make a final payment of aid to Afghanistan under a program approved on November 6, 2020, totaling $370 million.

The 42-month program resulted in the payment of an immediate down payment of $115 million, followed by a second payment of $149.4 million in early June after a first assessment of the progress made in implementing the program, with the final payment of $105.6 million remaining. .