When Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady began work as the governor of Afghanistan's central bank two years ago, Da Afghanistan Bank was in proud possession of just three computers - and they were used for word processing.
"Now we have over 200 computers. Obviously it's not enough but it's progress," he told AFP in an interview.
Three weeks ahead of Afghanistan's first presidential elections, Ahady said that whether front-runner President Hamid Karzai was re-elected or a new leader entered office the country would continue to build on the financial foundations he had laid down.
"I don't expect a change of office to have a negative impact because we have a constitution which outlines a modern financial system and anyone coming into power would be foolish not to maintain the good relationships with the donor community and foreign financial institutions we have built up," he said.
Wearing a smart blue suit and a lime green tie, the dapper former university professor said Afghanistan would have the beginnings of a working modern central bank with two years.
"I can envision a fully integrated central bank, with modern technology, branches in the provinces and somewhat trained personnel in two year's time," he said.
After more than two decades of civil war, and enduring government in the capital Kabul by Soviet-backed communists as well as the hard-line Islamic fundamentalist Taleban regime, Afghanistan's financial system has had to move at warp speed into the 21st century.
Ahady said the country had established a financial system in line with international standards with separate central and commercial banks, a stable currency, control over the money supply and reasonably low inflation.
"The rules of the game are now well known. The system is not very developed but it is in line with international norms," he said.
Afghanistan took small steps towards the launch of a capital market on Sunday with the launch of overnight, 1-month, 3-month and 6-month capital notes guaranteed by the central bank.
The move will allow the country's 10 commercial banks to begin determining a market-driven interest rate by trading the notes between each other, eventually giving Afghanistan its own equivalent of LIBOR (London Interbank Overnight Rate).
However, Afghanistan faces formidable obstacles to building a modern financial system as most of the country still uses the medieval Hawala system where money is transferred between trading families that have built up relationships of trust in local communities.
As Afghanistan is now the world's largest producer of opium, the Hawala system has the advantage of being informal and not open to scrutiny, but it is expensive with charges of two to three percent commission on international transfers compared with 0.25 percent for banks.
"Hawala is insecure, informal and you can't take people to court. Once we have physical security in the country, it will be less appealing," said Ahady.
Ahady said that establishing a culture where people felt money was safe in banks and not better kept stuffed under a mattress was a challenge given the history of violence Afghanistan has.
"Security is a precondition for a financial market to work. You have to protect people against thieves, warlords, against the powerful," he said.
With a Taleban-led insurgency in the south and east of the country and violence by warlords resisting disarmament in the north and western Afghanistan that is by no means certain.
Last week, the offices of the United Nations and other international organisations were torched by a rampaging mob after warlord and provincial governor Ismael Khan was kicked out of office.
Add to that a country which has no culture of record-keeping, accounting or auditing, and it is difficult for Afghanistan's fledgling banks to lend.
"There are credit worthy projects but there is no banking culture. People have to provide bankers with a number of documents and even the best companies here do not have audited financial statements," Ahady said.
Da Afghanistan Bank will be audited by an international firm for the first time this year and Ahady hopes it will set a precedent.
"Other commercial banks will begin to do the same and then newly formed companies will follow suit," he added.
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