Data Extraction

No estimate/amount: The Financial Stability Committee is meeting regularly to assess evolving risks to the financial and monetary stability. Da Afghanistan Bank or DAB (central bank) has intensified its monitoring of banks and indicated its readiness to provide liquidity as needed.

No amount/estimate: (i) DAB is in discussions with money-service providers, who play a systemic role in financial transactions, to ensure uninterrupted services, including transactions in foreign currency, and to encourage enhancement of their remote services given closures; (ii) DAB remains focused on price stability and is committed to exchange rate flexibility, limiting its foreign interventions to preventing excessive volatility.

No estimate/amount: (i) The authorities increased the frequency of Financial Stability Committee meetings, enhanced the monitoring of early signs of liquidity stress, and reviewed banks’ business continuity plans; (ii) DAB has suspended administrative penalties and fees, postponed the IFRS-9 implementation to June 2021, and froze loan classifications at the pre-pandemic cutoff of end-February.

(i) The government has so far allocated AFN1.9 billion (0.1% of GDP) in the budget for emergency health needs, such as (a) establishing testing labs, including at border crossings, (b) setting up special wards to boost hospitalization and care capacity, and (c) procuring the most critical medical supplies; (ii) As of April 22, the government has already allocated a total of AFN8 billion (0.5% of GDP) for emergency pandemic response. The authorities plan to spend about 2% of GDP for critical pandemic-related spending during the year, with about one-third directed to health;

No amount/estimate: To ease tax compliance, the government extended filing deadlines by 2 months, until May 20 for individual and business taxpayers.

No amount/estimate: The government is working to identify nonessential spending that can be curtailed to create space for pandemic-related spending, including social relief package for the affected households and measures to prevent permanent damage to the Afghan economy.

(i) USD3 million - Country Support under TA 9950-REG: Regional Support to Address the Outbreak of COVID-19 and Potential Outbreaks of Other Communicable Diseases; (ii) May 11, USD40 million Emergency Assistance for COVID-19 Pandemic Response grant to support the construction of 15 hospitals and medical facilities; (iii) June 3, Developing a Disaster Risk Transfer Facility in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region (Additional Financing) - USD0.07million. [update]

(i) April 14-Oct 13: IMF Catastrophe Containment And Relief Trust-Grant Assistance For Debt Service Relief, SDR2.4 million (SDR0.729/USD); (ii) April 2, The World Bank approved a USD100.4 million grant for the Afghanistan COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project to help Afghanistan take effective action to respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 and strengthen its public health preparedness; (iii) The IMF approved Afghanistan’s request for emergency assistance in the amount of SDR161.9 million (approximately USD220 million) under the Rapid Credit Facility; (iv) With the support of the World Bank, other development partners, and humanitarian agencies, the authorities are developing a social relief package—through cash transfers and, if impractical, in kind—to support food security among socially vulnerable households. On April 29, the government started providing free bread to about 2.5 million needy and poor people in Kabul [update]; (v) May 7, USD400 million grant from the World Bank to support the country in managing risks and uncertainties compounded by the COVID-19 crisis; (vi) As of May 26, USD18.7 million from USAID, broken down into: (a) USD7.1 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance, (b) USD3.1 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for Afghan returnees, (c) USD10 million from redirecting existing resources to support Afghanistan's health response, (d) USD500,000 to procure COVID-19 prevention and control supplies for correctional facilities.

No amount/estimate: April 22, The government has already allocated AFN8 billion (0.5% of GDP) for emergency pandemic response. The authorities plan to spend about 2% of GDP for critical pandemic-related spending during the year (See Measure 5 under health).

The government has taken steps to replace wheat imports lost due to border closures with purchases from Central Asia. 

(i) Screening at ports of entry, quarantine for infected people, and closure of public places for gathering; (ii) Quarantine for infected people; (iii) Closure of public places for gathering; (iv) Social distancing measures, including a three-week lockdown of Kabul (March 28) and Ghazni (April 1) and restricting daily movements to those deemed essentiall (v) Extended the border closures until April 9; (vi) Social distancing measures have included 20 provinces, including Kabul and some other cities, instituting lockdown measures, extended for two weeks on April 12; (vii) social distancing measures have been extended for 3 weeks on April 17; (viii) Both Houses of Afghanistan’s parliament were put on lockdown on April 29 until end of the national lockdown; (ix) The government also released over 5,300 prisoners to reduce the risk of mass infections in penitentiaries.

No amount/estimate: Short-term loans of up to a year were made available to allow small projects harmed by COVID-19 (especially in industrial and labor-intensive sectors) to pay for their operational expenses until the crisis is over.

No amount/estimate: (i) March 20, The central bank has reduced the policy rate by 300 bps to 9.25%; (ii) March 24, preferential interest rate on loans to tourism has been reduced from 10% to 5%, for SMEs; (iii) March 24, preferential interest rate on loans to industry and housing for low-income and middle-class families has been reduced from 10% to 8%; (iv) regulations issued last year requiring banks to obtain detailed information of borrowers have been relaxed; (v) suspension of credit score blacklists for irregular clients and waiver of court cases for defaulted customers have been announced.

(i) EGP3 billion of loan guarantees by the government has been announced for the tourism industry soft loans; (ii) EGP100 billion of loan guarantees from the Central Bank to cover lending at preferential rates to the manufacturing, agriculture and contracting industries.

No amount/estimate: (i) Loans with a two-year grace period will be made available to aviation sector firms; (ii) Central Bank introduced credit lines that can be paid over a maximum of two years with a six-month grace period, specifically for tourism enterprises to facilitate paying of salaries and financial dues for suppliers.

No amount/estimate: (i) March 24, The government also introduced a six-month extension for credit repayments targeting all individuals and businesses, as well as the waiving of late fines for such repayments; (ii) March 27, Mortgage financing companies, factoring and leasing companies mandated to give a six-month grace period to any client who asks; (iii) new debt relief initiative for individuals at risk of default has also been announced, that will waive marginal interest on debt under EGP1 million if customers make a 50% payment; (iv) Microlenders have been instructed to also consider delays on a case-by-case basis, of up to 50% of the value of monthly installments for struggling clients.

EGP20 billion stock-purchase program has been launched by the Central Bank.