KABUL, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan Khalil Sediq has been try to bring up to 90 percent of the country's some 30 million population into formal banking, a local newspaper said Wednesday.
"To this end, the central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), faces the twin tasks of modernizing the country's banking infrastructure and attempting to bring almost 90 percent of the population into formal banking for the first time," the Outlook Afghanistan reported.
The plan was made to bring Afghanistan up to international banking standards that mean rich rewards in the shape of a return to international financial markets, according to the paper.
"DAB's key goal and ambition for the banks and economy of the country over the coming years is to maintain price stability through design, to implement sound and prudent monetary policies, to mitigate severe fluctuations in exchange rate, and contribute to economic growth and overall macroeconomic stability," the paper quoted the governor as saying.
The majority of Afghans are still reluctant to save their capital into banks amid prolonged fighting and instability in the country.
However, the central bank's governor, according to the paper, said that all the banks operating in the war-battered country will be subject to regular supervision to ensure strong customers' protection and to improve financial inclusion.
The central bank of Afghanistan, according to Sediq, has also intervened in the foreign exchange market to mitigate severe fluctuations in the exchange rate to keep the national currency afghani stable against U.S. dollar and to encourage international trade and attract more foreign investment into Afghanistan.
