Bullion, government bonds and jewellery. Treasure stuck abroad – Economy

The Taliban controls Afghanistan, but it will be much more difficult to obtain its financial wealth: gold bars, foreign exchange reserves, US government bonds, and 21,000 gems of Bactrian gold, which are worth about $9.5 billion (half of which) the national annual GDP ). The point is, almost all of them are held abroad.

Meanwhile, the United States froze a large part of this treasury of assets belonging to the Central Bank of Afghanistan, Bank Da Afghan, mainly located in the United States and stopped the transfer of funds to the Asian country.

A government official in Washington confirmed news of the freezing of Afghan assets in the United States to Bloomberg on August 17, explaining that they would not be made available to the Taliban, who are on the US Treasury’s sanctions list.

It remains to be seen how Afghanistan’s share of the outstanding 650 billion Special Drawing Rights (DSP) in the IMF will be managed. The distribution of the DSP, the fund’s currency unit based on the dollar, euro, yen, pound and yuan, aims to support the reserves of developing countries that have faced difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a member of the International Monetary Fund, Afghanistan is entitled to allocate approximately $455 million, based on its 0.07% stake in the fund. At the moment, it is not certain that the Taliban will be able to take advantage of these means and this will depend on the other countries participating in the organization based in Washington. In 2019, for example, the International Monetary Fund suspended Venezuela’s access to DSPs after more than 50 member states, representing the majority, refused to recognize Nicolás Maduro’s government as the legitimate executive branch of the US state. Latina, after the 2018 elections.