October 8, 2003	Wednesday	Sha’aban 11, 1424

KABUL, Oct 7: National Bank of Pakistan on Tuesday became the first foreign bank to open a branch in Afghanistan, marking the start of the country’s new private commercial banking system, officials said.

“This is the first foreign bank to open its office in Afghanistan,” Afghan central bank governor Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady told reporters at the opening of the branch in the upmarket Wazir Akbar Khan district of central Kabul.

Afghanistan three weeks ago issued new laws governing the central bank and to establish a commercial banking system. It also issued licences to British-based Standard Chartered Bank and First Micro Finance Bank, majority-owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development.—AFP