Afghanistan Economy:
Afghanistan's economic outlook has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 because of the infusion of over $2 billion in international assistance, recovery of the agricultural sector, and the reestablishment of market institutions. Agriculture boomed in 2003 with the end of a four-year drought, but drought conditions returned for the southern half of the country in 2004. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan remains extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid, farming, and trade with neighboring countries. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and continuing donor aid and attention to raise Afghanistan's living standards up from its current status among the lowest in the world. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs, but the Afghan government and international donors remain committed to improving access to these basic necessities by prioritizing infrastructure development, education, housing development, jobs programs, and economic reform over the next year. Growing political stability and continued international commitment to Afghan reconstruction create an optimistic outlook for maintaining improvements in the Afghan economy in 2005. Expanding poppy cultivation and a growing opium trade may account for one-third of GDP and looms as one of Kabul's most serious policy challenges.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$21.5 billion (2003 est.)
GDP — real growth rate:
7.5% (2004 est.)
GDP — per capita:
purchasing power parity: $800 (2003 est.)
GDP — composition by sector:
agriculture: 60%
industry: 20%
services: 20%
(1990)
Labor force:
11.8 million (2001 est.)
Labor force — by occupation:
agriculture: 80%, industry: 10%, services: 10% (2004 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA
Population below poverty line:
53% (2003 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
10.3% (2003 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $300 million (FY04-05 est.)
expenditures: $609 million including capital expenditures of NA (FY04-05 est.)
Agriculture — products:
Opium, wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins
Industries:
small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper
Industrial production growth rate:
NA
Electricity — production:
540 million kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — consumption:
652.2 million kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — exports:
0 kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — imports:
150 million kWh (2002 est.)
Oil — production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — consumption:
3,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — exports:
NA
Oil — imports:
NA
Oil — proved reserves:
0 bbl (1 January 2002 est.)
Natural gas — production:
220 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas — consumption:
220 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas — exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas — imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas — proved reserves:
49.98 billion cu m (1 January 2002 est.)
Exports:
$446 million (not including illicit exports or reexports) (FY03-04 est.)
Exports — commodities:
opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems
Exports — partners:
Pakistan 24%, India 21.3%, US 12.4%, Germany 5.5% (2004)
Imports:
$3.76 billion (FY03-04 est.)
Imports — commodities:
capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products
Imports — partners:
Pakistan 25.5%, US 8.7%, India 8.5%, Germany 6.5%, Turkmenistan 5.3%, Kenya 4.7%, South Korea 4.2%, Russia 4.2% (2004)
Debt — external:
$8 billion in bilateral debt, mostly to Russia (2004 est.)
$500 million in debt to Multilateral Development Banks (2004 est.)
Economic aid — recipient:
$8.9 billion international pledges made by more than 60 countries and international financial institutions at the Berlin Donors Conference for Afghan reconstruction in March 2004 (March 2004-09 est.)
Currency:
afghani (AFA)
Exchange rates:
afghanis per US$: 3,000 (2004 est.), 3,000 (2003 est.), 3,000 (2002 est.), 3,000 (2001 est.), 3,000 (2000 est.)
note: In 2002, the afghani was revalued and the currency stabilized at about 50 afghanis to the dollar; before 2002, the market rate varied widely from the official rate
Fiscal year:
21 March - 20 March
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