Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors decided to allocate a grant of US$100 million to Afghanistan. According to the WB, the allocation of financial assistance is aimed at “stabilizing the financial sector of the IRA and supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (IHR) to support the country’s drive to recover from COVID-19."

According to experts from the World Bank, financial assistance is provided to the IRA due to the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has caused extremely severe economic consequences for the country’s economy. According to the WB forecasts, incl. the IRA’s national economy will shrink by 5.5-7.4%. In these conditions, pointing out the importance of supporting entrepreneurship for the restoration of the Afghan economy, experts draw attention to the fact that "more than 30% of small businesses suffered extreme damage, over 50% of MSMEs in the country are experiencing financial difficulties." In this regard, the regional director of the WB in the IRA. G. Kerali believes that “expanding lending to MSME on a sustainable basis through strengthening the financial sector is the key to accelerating the recovery of the IRA”.

It should be noted that earlier the World Bank, in order to provide assistance in combating the pandemic and overcoming its consequences, in the current year. several times allocated financial assistance to Afghanistan:

1) April - US$100 million; 2) May - US$400 million; 3) July - US$200 million; 4) August of this year - US$210 million

At the same time, the Afghan "Tolo news" quotes the director of the Asian Development Bank in Afghanistan N. Singru that "ADB is developing a decision to provide the country with US$100 million to help small and medium-sized enterprises overcome the financial consequences of COVID-19."

It is noteworthy that in this year. ADB, as part of its assistance in combating the pandemic, also made decisions on the allocation of funds to the IRA, incl. in May - US$40 million, in September - about US$24 million.

In general, according to experts, the allocation of assistance to Afghanistan by international financial organizations is taking place in connection with a significant deterioration in the socio-economic situation in the country due to the pandemic. At the same time, the consistent provision of financial assistance demonstrates support not only for the efforts of the IRA government in the economic reconstruction of the country, but also for the existing democratic system as a whole, the preservation of which is an important condition for further assistance by the international community to post-conflict Afghanistan.