Connect with us

Business

Parliament approves fiscal year’s budget, Ghani praises the move

Published

on

The Afghan parliament on Monday approved the current fiscal year's budget with the majority of votes after weeks of tensions between the two-state branches over the document.

Following the national fiscal year budget approval the Presidential Palace issued a statement saying that President Ghani thanked members of the House of Representatives for approving the budget for the 1400 solar fiscal year.

“The President praised the decision, approving the national budget for the solar year 1400 in the national interest, and called it important for the timely implementation of the basic plans and programs of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, especially development projects throughout the country,” read the statement.

"Increasing the salaries of employees, accommodating development projects, the relative balance of money in special codes, reducing unnecessary spending, preventing the loss of people's money are important chapters of this success,” said Mir Rahman Rahmani, speaker of the house.

The fiscal year began on December 21, 2020, and the parliament rejected the budget draft twice.

On Sunday, lawmakers and the Finance Ministry officials agreed on almost all 19 disputed points, but they still have yet to agree on the allocation of the budget for the High Council for National Reconciliation as well as over the reduction in the number of development projects, MPs said.

Both sides also disagreed on a 15 million AFN allocation for the Afghanistan Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, but the issue was solved when the fund was removed from the third budget draft, according to lawmakers.

In the third and latest draft, 105 million AFN ($1.3 million) have been shifted to the regular budget from the development budget.

Meanwhile, MPs did not approve the budget for a number of departments that did not receive a vote by the parliament, such as the High Council for National Reconciliation, and placed the budget of the Council under the budget of the Presidential administration office.

Some MPs still believe that no changes have been brought in the budget and that "everything (recent disputes) was just a show and was for personal interests."

The estimated budget for the fiscal year 1400 is over 473 billion AFN (nearly $6 billion), including 311 billion AFN ($4 billion) for the regular budget and 162 billion AFN ($2 billion) for the development budget.

Business

Mullah Baradar inaugurates a blanket factory in Kabul

About 930 million Afghanis have been invested in the factory and it currently has the capacity to produce 1000 blankets per day.

Published

on

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the economic deputy prime minister, on Sunday inaugurated a blanket factory in Pul-e-Charkhi industrial area in Kabul city.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Baradar said that with the provision of overall security in the country and the reduction of corruption, a favorable environment for medium and small investments has been created.

He added that the Islamic Emirate continues to support domestic industries by implementing effective import substitution policies, which plays an important role in strengthening the country's national economy.

Baradar stated that in order to support domestic industries, heavy-duty machines worth 100 million afghanis ($1.4 million) were purchased for the newly established blanket factory based on the Islamic Murabaha Islamic financing structure.

Murabaha is a sales contract where the buyer and seller agree on the markup or "cost-plus" price for the item being sold.

Baradar also mentioned that the Islamic Emirate seeks to reduce dependence on foreign imports by increasing the level of investment.

He called businessmen and investors to invest inside Afghanistan for the economic growth of the country.

According to Baradar’s office, the newly established blanket factory uses domestically sourced raw materials including wool and cotton, which will help increase job opportunities in addition to strengthening the livestock and agriculture sector.

About 930 million afghanis has been invested in the factory and it currently has the capacity to produce 1,000 blankets per day.

The factory has employed about 900 people.

Continue Reading

Business

Trade volume between Kabul-Tehran has reached over $1.8 billion: MoIC

Afghanistan News: Iranian officials also stated that since the beginning of this year, the export of non-oil goods to Afghanistan has increased to $1.3 billion

Published

on

Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) says the trade volume between Afghanistan and Iran has reached more than $1.8 billion over the past seven months of 1403 [solar year].

The ministry's spokesman Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada said these trades include oil and non-oil goods.

According to Jawad Akhundzada, trade and transit with Iran is expanding.

“Afghanistan's trade with Iran during the seven months of 1403 was worth $1 billion 827 million dollars, of which 30 million dollars were exports and $1 billion 797 million dollars were imports,” said Akhundzada.

“Most of the major export goods are mineral stones, raisins, all kinds of soft drinks and sesame seeds, and the main import items are diesel fuel, petrol, raw materials for manufacturing, liquid gas and cement,” he added.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials also stated that since the beginning of this year, the export of non-oil goods to Afghanistan has increased to 1.3 billion dollars.

Tehran Times newspaper quoted the Iranian customs officials and reported that Afghanistan was Iran's fifth largest importer of non-oil products in the last seven months.

Continue Reading

Business

Afghanistan-India trade volume totals $650 million so far this year

Published

on

Trade between Afghanistan and India totals $650 million in the first 10 months of this year, the Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced this weekend.

In a post on X on Saturday, the ministry’s spokesman Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada said $477 million in exports and $203 million in imports were recorded this year.

He said Afghanistan’s main exports to India included dried figs, raisins, saffron, green cumin, and almonds.

According to Akhundzada, the main items imported from India over the past 10 months were sugar, raw materials for industrial factories, new clothing, and roasted chickpeas.

Just last week, JP Singh, Indian foreign ministry’s joint secretary for the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division, visited Kabul and met with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The two sides discussed political and economic relations between Afghanistan and India, and people's movements, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.

Muttaqi expressed hope that relations between India and Afghanistan would expand in various fields. He stressed that to develop trade relations, Indian visa facilities should be increased for Afghan citizens, especially businesspersons.

According to the statement, JP Singh said that relations with Afghanistan are important for India and have an ancient history.

The Indian diplomat said that along with humanitarian aid to Afghans, India has also started development assistance to Afghanistan and is engaged in technical discussions with relevant Afghan institutions.

JP Singh stressed that in the near future, negotiations will be held between technical delegations of regional countries including Afghanistan and India on the Chabahar port.

He also promised to increase Indian visa facilities for Afghans.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Ariana News. All rights reserved!