Press Release

Afghanistan Central Bank and U.S. Advance Afghan Mobile Banking

Kabul, Afghanistan  | Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Before embarking on a trip to the United States, Afghan Central Bank Governor Abdul Qadeer Fitrat told a group of Afghan banking and finance leaders today that developing mobile phone banking, through a project facilitated by the United States Government, will change the way all Afghans conduct private and public business.

Francis J. Ricciardone, Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of the United States of America, offered remarks at the opening of the conference.

“Mobile banking represents the best of what the partnership between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is all about,” Ambassador Ricciardone said.  “In introducing a new technology that will help all Afghans earn, save and transfer money, the Afghan government is showing it is serious about improving the lives of all Afghans and advancing peace, justice and prosperity.”

Ambassador Ricciardone said the Mobile Money approach puts a new age of banking technology at the fingertips of wage earners from Herat to Badakhshan and all places in between.  He added that technological advances, such as mobile phone banking, empower Afghans and pave the way to a more stable and secure life.

Over the past three years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested an estimated $5 million to support the Afghan telecommunications sector and Central Bank in their efforts to speed the growth of this important sector.