Afghan govt assures transparency in allocating COVID-19 funds

KABUL (TOLO News): The Ministry of Finance on Friday reassured the international community of accountability and transparency in the spending of the foreign assistance aid given to the country to fight the coronavirus, saying the government has established a committee under the leadership of the first vice president to ensure better management of the funds.

“The Afghan government is fully committed to undertake the right management and transparent spending of the aid. There are certain sets of procedures outlined for this purpose which will ensure transparency, better management and effective use of the assistance,” said Shamroz Khan Masjidi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.

Following the spread of COVID-19, the international community has pledged around $540 million dollars to Afghanistan in its struggle against the deadly pandemic.

Of the amount, $115 million was provided by the World Bank, $115 million by the EU, $50 million by the Asian Development Bank, $25 million by the US and $220 million in loans by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

“Money was allocated for the fight against the coronavirus from the national budget–there is also foreign aid–but poor management and poor monitoring systems cause doubts about the ability of the government,” said Ezatullah Adib, a member of Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA)”

Recently the Afghan government announced that it had created a committee under the chairmanship of First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, and the Afghan government insists that this aid should be spent through the government budget instead of NGOs.

Experts have said that the Afghan government needs to assure the global community that it can manage and spend the international assistance by defining comprehensive and effective strategies.

“They (the international community) feels fear about a possible waste of money, and the people have raised complaints,” said Tariq Farhadi, a former presidential adviser.