UN Warns of Afghanistan’s Banking Collapse as Crisis Deepens
People sit and wait outside a bank to withdraw money in Kabul, in September.
Photographer: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images
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The United Nations Development Programme warned Monday that Afghanistan’s banking sector risked collapse due to worsening liquidity problems and a rise in non-performing loans, potentially adding further pain to its growing humanitarian crisis.
“Afghanistan’s financial and bank payment systems are in disarray,” the UNDP said in the report. A run on bank deposits “must be resolved quickly to improve Afghanistan’s limited production capacity and prevent the banking system from collapsing.”