Afghanistan Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
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 est.)

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)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
10.3% (2003)

Budget:
revenues: $300 million
expenditures: $609 million, including capital expenditures of NA (FY04-05 budget)

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)

Electricity - consumption:
652.2 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
150 million kWh (2002)

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)

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)

Exports:
$446 million (not including illicit exports or reexports) (FY03-04)

Exports - commodities:
opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems

Exports - partners:
India 23.1%, Pakistan 20.5%, US 12.9%, Germany 6% (2004)

Imports:
$3.759 billion (FY03-04)

Imports - commodities:
capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products

Imports - partners:
Pakistan 25.2%, US 8.7%, South Korea 7.7%, India 7.6%, Germany 6.5%, Turkmenistan 4.5%, Turkey 4.1% (2004)

Debt - external:
$8 billion in bilateral debt, mostly to Russia; Afghanistan has $500 million in debt to Multilateral Development Banks (2004)

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

Currency (code):
afghani (AFA)

Exchange rates:
afghanis per US dollar - 3,000 (2004), 3,000 (2003), 3,000 (2002), 3,000 (2001), 3,000 (2000)
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