.IMF to follow suit
The World Bank announced that it has frozen payments for all its projects in Afghanistan.
The decisions follows the Taliban takeover.
This came just as the International Monetary Fund, based in Washington, announced last week that it would suspend cooperation with Afghanistan until further notice.
A World Bank spokesperson was quoted in Washington as saying, “We have paused disbursements in our operations in Afghanistan and we are closely monitoring and assessing the situation in line with our internal policies and procedures.
“As we do so, we will continue to consult closely with the international community and development partners.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the impact on the country’s development prospects, especially for women.
“Together with our partners, we are exploring ways we can remain engaged to preserve hard-won development gains and continue to support the people of Afghanistan,’’ the spokesperson added.
The World Bank has been an important donor of development projects for Afghanistan, which was one of the poorest countries in the world.
The organisation says that it had provided aid to Afghanistan totaling almost $5 billion from 2002 through April 2021.
In February there were 12 projects in Afghanistan with a volume of around 940 million dollars, plus other projects in cooperation with a local fund for reconstruction.
