Afghanistan: Economy#
Afghanistan's economy is recovering from decades of conflict. The economy has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 largely because of the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. Criminality, insecurity, weak governance, lack of infrastructure, and the Afghan Government's difficulty in extending rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth. Afghanistan's living standards are among the lowest in the world.The international community remains committed to Afghanistan's development, pledging over $67 billion at nine donors' conferences between 2003 and 2010. In July 2012, the donors at the Tokyo conference pledged an additional $16 billion in civilian aid through 2015. Despite this help, the Government of Afghanistan will need to overcome a number of challenges, including low revenue collection, anemic job creation, high levels of corruption, weak government capacity, and poor public infrastructure.
Afghanistan's growth rate slowed markedly in 2014-15. The drawdown of international security forces that started in 2014 has negatively affected economic growth, as a substantial portion of commerce, especially in the services sector, has catered to the ongoing international troop presence in the country. Afghan President Ashraf GHANI Ahmadzai is dedicated to instituting economic reforms to include improving revenue collection and fighting corruption. However, the reforms will take time to implement and Afghanistan will remain dependent on international donor support over the next several years.
Economic Facts#
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | $64.08 billion (2016 est.) $62.82 billion (2015 est.) $62.35 billion (2014 est.) note: data are in 2016 dollars |
|---|---|
| GDP (official exchange rate) | $18.4 billion (2014 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 2% (2016 est.) 0.8% (2015 est.) 1.3% (2014 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | $2,000 (2016 est.) $2,000 (2015 est.) $2,000 (2014 est.) note: data are in 2016 dollars |
| Gross national saving | 23.4% of GDP (2016 est.) 23.3% of GDP (2015 est.) 20% of GDP (2014 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 108.6% government consumption: 12.8% investment in fixed capital: 18.2% investment in inventories: 0% exports of goods and services: 6.6% imports of goods and services: -46.2% (2014 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by sector of origin | agriculture: 24% industry: 21% services: 55% note: data exclude opium production (2014 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | opium, wheat, fruits, nuts; wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins, poppies |
| Industries | small-scale production of bricks, textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, apparel, food products, non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper |
| Industrial production growth rate | 2.4% (2014 est.) |
| Labor force | 7.983 million (2013 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 78.6% industry: 5.7% services: 15.7% (FY08/09 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 35% (2008 est.) 40% (2005 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | 35.8% (2011 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.8% highest 10%: 24% (2008) |
| Budget | revenues: $1.7 billion expenditures: $6.639 billion (2015 est.) |
| Taxes and other revenues | 9.2% of GDP (2015 est.) |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | -26.8% of GDP (2015 est.) |
| Fiscal year | 21 December - 20 December |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.5% (2016 est.) -1.5% (2015 est.) |
| Commercial bank prime lending rate | 15% (31 December 2015 est.) 15% (31 December 2014 est.) |
| Stock of narrow money | $6.644 billion (31 December 2014 est.) $6.192 billion (31 December 2013 est.) |
| Stock of broad money | $6.945 billion (31 December 2014 est.) $6.544 billion (31 December 2013 est.) |
| Stock of domestic credit | $-454 million (31 December 2014 est.) $-767.8 million (31 December 2013 est.) |
| Market value of publicly traded shares | $NA |
| Current account balance | $827 million (2016 est.) $925 million (2015 est.) |
| Exports | $658 million (2014 est.) $2.679 billion (2013 est.) note: not including illicit exports or reexports |
| Exports - commodities | opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems |
| Exports - partners | India 42.3%, Pakistan 29%, Tajikistan 7.6% (2015) |
| Imports | $7.004 billion (2014 est.) $12.19 billion (2013 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | machinery and other capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products |
| Imports - partners | Pakistan 38.6%, India 8.9%, US 8.3%, Turkmenistan 6.2%, China 6%, Kazakhstan 5.9%, Azerbaijan 4.9% (2015) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $6.232 billion (31 December 2015 est.) $6.681 billion (31 December 2014 est.) |
| Debt - external | $1.28 billion (FY10/11) $2.7 billion (FY08/09) |
| Exchange rates | afghanis (AFA) per US dollar - 61.14 (2016 est.) 61.14 (2015 est.) 61.14 (2014 est.) 57.25 (2013 est.) 46.45 (2010) |