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{
    "localId": "486500791",
    "label": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Afghanistan, Situation Report 32",
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    "id": "486500791",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Afghanistan, Situation Report 32",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486500791",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Intelligence Files"
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 21,
            "logicalDate": "1948-10-21",
            "month": 10,
            "year": 1948
        }
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{
    "seq": 21,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875513/875513-01-021.tif",
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    "ocrText": "SECRET\nThe Bank of Afghanistan, with the sole right of note issue, prints notes of 500,\n100, 50, 20, 10, 5, and 2 afghanis. Statutes require a note coverage of 50 percent in gold,\nsilver, and foreign currency, but the Bank of Afghanistan states that the current cover-\nage is 100 percent. In March 1948 the official buying rate for Afghan currency was\n14.0000 afghanis for $1.00 and the official selling rate 14.1773 for $1.00. The afghanis\nmay also be sold and bought in the bazaars at a free rate which in early 1948 was 17\nafghanis for $1.00.\nThe Afghan National Bank (Bank-i-Millie), founded in 1932, is considered a\nprivate commercial institution. However, its directorate includes high government\nofficials, and its policies are controlled by the government through the Bank of Afghan-\nistan, which holds a portion of the bank shares. The president of this bank,\nwho\nserves\nalso as governor of the Bank of Afghanistan, is the Minister of National Economy. The\nAfghan National Bank has a capital of $23 million, and its accounts and deposits total\nover $86 million. In 1947 the government stated that the capital of this bank should\nbe expanded by an additional $30 million in order to provide adequate funds for the\ndevelopment of agriculture and industry. A major part of the shares in the Afghan\nNational Bank is held by the various joint stock companies (shirkats) for which the\nbank functions as a purchasing and selling agent, in New York through the Afghan\nAmerican Trading Company and in Pakistan and India through the Afghan National\nBank Ltd.\nIn the spring of 1948 the Building and Loan Bank, with a capital of about $2\nmillion, was established. This institution is not yet active, but its operations will be\nunder state control; aside from making loans, it is also authorized to go into the actual\nconstruction business to build houses.\ne.\nInternational Trade.\nWhile Afghanistan's trade is unimportant to world markets, it is essential to\nthe current economy of the country and to the furtherance of projects aimed at raising\nthe country's economic level. Afghan trade has been disrupted and hampered by the\nshortages resulting from World War II, the grave dislocation of the economies of\nPakistan and India, the confusion over attempts by India and Pakistan to collect cus-\ntoms duties on their exports to Afghanistan, Afghanistan's reluctance to orient its\neconomy toward the USSR, lower prices on the karakul market, and poor crops.\nIt is impossible to obtain reliable figures on Afghanistan's trade during and\nafter World War II. The following figures, submitted in March 1947 by the Afghan\nGovernment, seem to reflect 1945 statistics and disagree in part with other available\ninformation. They do, however, present a picture of the relative importance of the\nmajor items of Afghanistan's foreign trade.\n15"
}