Afghan Central Bank Nominee Says State May Recoup Bailout Cost
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President Hamid Karzai’s choice as Afghanistan’s new central bank governor says the state may recover 80 percent of the $850 million it has spent to bail out the country’s biggest commercial lender.
Noorullah Delawari, who headed Da Afghanistan Bank from 2004 to 2007, has been chosen by Karzai to return to the post, the president’s spokesman, Hamid Elmi, said by phone today. The appointment, which must be confirmed by parliament, ends a five-month vacancy that has slowed the government’s efforts to handle the collapse last year of Kabul Bank. The bank failed because of illegal loans to its shareholders, including brothers of Karzai and First Vice President Mohammad Qassim Fahim.