Head of Afghan Business Council meets Niklasson

DUBAI (TOLOnews): Haji Obaidullah Sader Khail, head of the Afghan business council in the UAE, in a meeting with Tomas Niklasson, EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan, discussed trade problems, especially the transfer of money from banks.
The Head of the Afghan business council in the UAE said that the traders are faced with challenges when making money transfers to buy food materials.
“We discussed the money transfer challenges and we also discussed the $239 million frozen assets in Europe and the $500 million in the US,” said Sader Khail.
Meanwhile, Yonis Momand, the head of the chamber of commerce and investment, called on the international community to lift restrictions hindering Afghanistan’s private sector.
Yonis Momand said that due to banking issues, traders cannot improve trade relations with the world.
“We call on the international community to not create challenges for our private sector,” said Yonis Momand.
Some economists said that banking issues impede access to raw materials for production.
“When we want to transfer money for raw materials, transfers are very slow and it effects raw material prices in the markets,” said Azrakhsh Hafizi, an economist.
The UN in a recent report said that in the past one and half years 700,000 people have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis.