Poland, 02-954 Warsaw
1, Goplańska Street
phone: +48 22 8855410
fax: +48 22 8856500
email:
warsaw@afghanembassy.com.pl

office hours: 9-16
visa section: 10-12, 13-15

Introduction

Economy - overview

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. Real GDP growth exceeded 8% in 2006. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid, agriculture, and trade with neighboring countries. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. Criminality, insecurity, and the Afghan Government's inability to extend rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and continuing donor aid and attention to significantly raise Afghanistan's living standards from its current level, among the lowest in the world. While the international community remains committed to Afghanistan's development, pledging over $24 billion at three donors' conferences since 2002,Kabul will need to overcome a number of challenges. Expanding poppy cultivation and a growing opium trade generate roughly $3 billion in illicit economic activity and looms as one ofKabul's most serious policy concerns. Other long-term challenges include: budget sustainability, job creation, corruption, government capacity, and rebuilding war torn infrastructure.

GDP (purchasing power parity):	$21.5 billion (2004 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):	$8.8 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:	8% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):	$800 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:	agriculture: 38% industry: 24% services: 38% note: data exclude opium production (2005 est.)
Labor force:	15 million (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:	agriculture: 80% industry: 10% services: 10% (2004 est.)
Unemployment rate:	40% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:	53% (2003)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):	16.3% (2005 est.)
Budget:	revenues: $269 million expenditures: $561 million; including capital expenditures of $41.7 million note: Afghanistan has also received $273 million from the Reconstruction Trust Fund and $63 million from the Law and Order Trust Fund (FY04-05 budget 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:	754.2 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - consumption:	801.4 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports:	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports:	100 million kWh (2005)
Oil - production:	0 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - consumption:	4,500 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - exports:	NA bbl/day
Oil - imports:	NA bbl/day
Oil - proved reserves:	0 bbl (1 January 2005)
Natural gas - production:	19.18 million cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:	19.18 million cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - exports:	0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - imports:	0 cu m (2005)
Natural gas - proved reserves:	47.53 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Exports:	$471 million; note - not including illicit exports or reexports (2005 est.)
Exports - commodities:	opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems
Exports - partners:	India 22%, Pakistan 21%, US 14.6%, UK 6.3%, Denmark 5.5%, Finland 4.3% (2006)
Imports:	$3.87 billion (2005 est.)
Imports - commodities:	capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products
Imports - partners:	Pakistan 37.5%, US 11.9%, Germany 7.1%, India 5.1% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient:	international pledges made by more than 60 countries and international financial institutions at the Berlin Donors Conference for Afghan reconstruction in March 2004 reached $8.9 billion for 2004-09
Debt - external:	$8 billion in bilateral debt, mostly to Russia; Afghanistan has $500 million in debt to Multilateral Development Banks (2004)
Market value of publicly traded shares:	$NA
Currency (code):	afghani (AFA)
Exchange rates:	afghanis per US dollar - 46 (2006), 47.7 (2005), 48 (2004), 49 (2003), 41 (2002) note: in 2002, the afghani was revalued and the currency stabilized at about 40 to 50 afghanis to the US dollar; before 2002, the market rate varied widely from the official rate
Fiscal year:	21 March - 20 March

Communications

Telephones - main lines in use:	280,000 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular:	2.52 million (2006)
Telephone system:	general assessment: very limited telephone and telegraph service; many Afghans utilize growing cellular phone coverage in major cities domestic: telephone service is improving with the licensing of several wireless telephone service providers in 2005 and 2006; approximately 8 in 100 Afghans own a wireless telephone; telephone main lines remain limited international: country code - 93; five VSAT's installed in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar, and Jalalabad provide international and domestic voice and data connectivity (2007)
Radio broadcast stations:	AM 21, FM 5, shortwave 1 (broadcasts in Pashtu, Afghan Persian (Dari), Urdu, and English) (2006)
Television broadcast stations:	at least 7 (1 government-run central television station inKabul and regional stations in 6 of the 34 provinces) (2006)
Internet country code:	.af
Internet hosts:	21 (2007)
Internet users:	535,000 (2006)
Communications - note:	Internet access is growing through Internet cafes as well as public "telekiosks" inKabul (2005)