KABUL, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Afghanistan will delay paying salaries to hundreds of thousands of civil servants next month because it does not have enough money, a finance ministry official said Saturday.

The government treasury now holds less than the 6.5 billion Afghanis ($116 million) needed to begin processing monthly salaries, said Alhaj Mohammad Aqa, director-general of treasury in the ministry.

He would not say exactly how much money the government had in its coffers, only that it was not enough to meet the payroll.

(Reporting by Kay Johnson; Editing by Pravin Char)