Herat residents complain of rising old banknotes

Residents in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat province complain of rising number of old and damaged banknotes, saying such banknotes are not accepted in their daily business activities.

Herat Money Exchangers’ Union recently held a three-day strike for the same problem of refusal of old banknotes.

“The problem prevails everywhere. When a government employee tries to pay his electricity bill in a bank, they do not accept the old notes,” said Baryalai Ghawsi, a money exchanger.

“These banknotes should be accepted until the government prints new notes. In the past when the banknotes were new, people would immediately accept them, but now they carefully check and separate the old ones,” said Ghulam Hazrat, a money exchanger.

Residents also said that sellers don’t accept old banknotes when they do shopping.

“When we try to buy rice from a shop, they don’t accept the old banknotes. When we try to buy cooking oil or pay taxi fare, they don’t accept the old notes,” said Mohammad Ismail, a resident of Herat.

“The problem of old banknotes should be addressed by the central bank. People cannot solve it. The government should compensate losses incurred by the people” said Mohammad Azim, a resident of Herat.

Lal Gul, a shopkeeper in Herat, said that the government should either print new banknotes or take action against those who do not accept old banknotes.

Da Afghanistan Bank in a notice recently said that a banknote should be accepted if it is not damaged by 60 percent or more.