In 1993, the official inflation rate was more than 150 percent. While there has been no official figure since then, one estimate put the figure at a whopping 240 percent for Kabul in 1996. This kind of skyrocketing price increase in a society is often called "hyperinflation." Thus, a loaf of bread in the capital city may have cost US$1 in 1995 and risen to US$2.50 in 1996. The value of the afghani has also plummeted against the U.S. dollar, going from 36,000 afghanis to the dollar in October,
| Exchange rates: Afghanistan | |
| afghanis (Af) per US$1 | |
| Jan 2000 | 4,700 |
| Feb 1999 | 4,750 |
| Dec 1996 | 17,000 |
| Jan 1995 | 7,000 |
| Jan 1994 | 1,900 |
| Mar 1993 | 1,019 |
| Note: These rates reflect the free market exchange rates rather than theofficial exchange rate, which was fixed at 50.600 afghanis to the dollar until1996, when it rose to 2,262.65 per dollar, and finally became fixed again at3,000.00 per dollar in April 1996. | |
| SOURCE: CIA World Factbook 2001 [ONLINE]. | |
1998, to 45,000 afghanis to the dollar 6 months later. Weaker currency values can lead to higher prices and inflation . Until Afghanistan establishes normal relations with the rest of the world, there is little hope that its currency will have any stability or value.
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