Business
Cash-strapped government puts new projects on hold
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) has informed all government departments they need to cut back on budget spend, including that on planned development projects.
In an official notice to all government institutions, MoF has ordered them to stop projects where contracts have recently been signed, and which employ contract workers.
All planned development projects have also been put on hold.
The MoF said that due to the increase in spend for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), the increase in health spend and a drop in government income, all government departments need to cut expenditure.
“After the assessment of the development and general budgets by the cabinet, changes have been brought to the ministries and all government budgets because of the increase in ANDSF and health spending. Contracts from the… budget should be halted or suspended,” read the notice.
The MoF said that the government has lost $33 million in customs revenue since the Taliban seized five border crossings in the past month, amid rising violence in the country.
“Sher Khan port in Kunduz, Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Islam Qala in Herat, Abu Nasr Farahi in Farah and Torghundi in Herat have been captured by Taliban in the past month,“said Rafi Tabi, spokesman for the MoF.
Analysts have said the government should consider other steps to cut back on budget spend.
“In this situation, we can’t blame government, but it (government) should consider other options to prevent confusing the public,” said Sayed Massoud, a university lecturer.
This comes after the projected revenue generation for Afghanistan was expected to be 216 billion AFN ($2.7 billion) for the current solar year.
The total 452.6 billion AFN budget for this year did however carry a 37 billion AFN deficit – which government was to provide 20 billion AFN from internal resources and 17 billion AFN was pledged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to make up the difference.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Thursday it has signed cooperation agreements with ten institutions to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, said: “In the implementation of projects, we must pay special attention to our activities and actions and try to make useful use of the projects according to the requirements and benefit the beneficiaries.”
These ten institutions are to present their projects, the total value of which is around over $1.1 million. The projects will be carried out in Kabul, Baghlan, Ghor, Herat, Logar, Nangarhar, Balkh, Badakhshan and Jawzjan provinces and provide direct jobs for about 1,000.
To date, the ministry has signed MoUs for 72 projects in total, collectively valued at about $53.6 million.
These agreements have been signed with domestic and foreign companies for the establishment of small and medium-sized businesses.
In accordance with the principles and laws of the Islamic Emirate and prioritizing the implementation of projects for immigrants and returnees and internally displaced people, the ministry said 635,865 people will benefit through jobs directly and over 4.3 million will benefit indirectly in 25 provinces once these projects are implemented.
The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) confirmed Tuesday that in the last month of solar year 1402, (March 2024) Afghanistan’s exports totaled $141.1 million and imports totaled $789.6 million.
This was down from $174 million for exports in the same period in 1401. However, imports increased by $99.2 million in 1402, up from $690.4 million.
Most exports in the last month of 1402 went to Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates, while in the last month of 1401 exports went to Pakistan, India and China.
The Ministry of Interior said the governor of Herat province Islam Jar met with Alim Khan Yasin Gildaye, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Afghanistan, to discuss various issues around trade.
According to the ministry, the two sides discussed the expansion of trade facilities, increasing the volume of trade exchanges between traders of the two countries, reducing customs tariffs, solving the challenges of traders and issuing visas to them.
The Afghanistan-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce has been opened in Herat in order to facilitate and increase trade between the two countries.
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