KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has nominated a US-educated banker as the new governor of the country's central bank, his spokesman said Thursday. Presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi named the candidate as Noorullah Delawari. His nomination comes after a five-month vacancy in the post caused by turmoil in Afghanistan's banking system due to the near-collapse of the Kabul Bank, once the country's largest private financial institution.Parliament is expected to discuss its approval of the appointment on Saturday, said lawmaker Gul Pacha Majeidi.
Delawari is a former central bank governor who now sits on the institution's governing board. He will replace Abdul Qadir Fitrat, who fled to northern Virginia in late June after claiming to have received threats to his life in connection with Kabul Bank scandal.
Kabul Bank became a symbol of the country's deep-rooted corruption, and the case was closely followed by Afghans and international donors because it is widely perceived to be a test of the government's pledge to root out patronage and graft.
Afghanistan's financial system appears to be slowly recovering from the aftereffects of the near-collapse, which required a massive central bank bailout. Last week, the IMF approved a three-year $133.6 million loan for Afghanistan because it found the government had taken steps to address governance and accountability issues that surfaced during the Kabul Bank crisis. The decision reassured international donors, many whom had withheld aid while waiting for the IMF decision.
The Kabul Bank has been split into two parts, a healthy one being run by the Afghan Finance Ministry, and another which is has taken over hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans. The Afghan government hopes to put the healthy bank up for sale in the middle of next year.
| So it's their version of TARP only with more transparency and honesty... |