Economy
Economic overview:
Afghanistan is an extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on farming (wheat especially) and livestock raising (sheep and goats). Economic considerations have played second fiddle to political and military upheavals during more than 16 years of war, including the nearly 10-year Soviet military occupation (which ended 15 February 1989). Over the past decade, one-third of the population fled the country, with Pakistan and Iran sheltering more than 6 million refugees. Now, only 1.0 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan and about 1.3 million in Iran. Another 1 million probably moved into and around urban areas within Afghanistan. Gross domestic product has fallen substantially over the past 15 years because of the loss of labor and capital and the disruption of trade and transport. Millions of people continue to suffer from insufficient food, clothing, housing, and lack of medical care. Numerical data are extremely shaky.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $12.8 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
NA%
GDP per capita:
$600 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
65%
industry:
15%
services:
20%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
NA%
Labor force:
4.98 million
by occupation:
agriculture and animal husbandry 67.8%, industry 10.2%, construction 6.3%, commerce 5.0%, services and other 10.7% (1980 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$NA
expenditures:
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries:
small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, and cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, oil, coal, copper
Electricity:
capacity:
480,000 kW
production:
550 million kWh
consumption per capita:
39 kWh (1993)
Agriculture:
wheat, fruits, nuts, karakul pelts; wool, mutton
Illicit drugs:
an illicit cultivator of opium poppy and cannabis for the international drug trade; world's second-largest opium producer after Burma (1,250 metric tons in 1995) and a major source of hashish
Exports:
$188.2 million (f.o.b., 1991)
commodities:
fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems
partners:
FSU countries, Pakistan, Iran, Germany, India, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia
Imports:
$616.4 million (c.i.f., 1991)
commodities:
food and petroleum products; most consumer goods
partners:
FSU countries, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, Singapore, India, South Korea, Germany
External debt:
$2.3 billion (March 1991 est.)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $NA
note:
US provided $450 million assistance (1985-93); the UN provides assistance in the form of food aid, immunization, land mine removal, and a wide range of aid to refugees and displaced persons
Currency:
1 afghani (AF) = 100 puls
Exchange rates:
afghanis (Af) per US$1 - 7,000 (January 1995), 1,900 (January 1994), 1,019 (March 1993), 850 (1991); note - these rates reflect the free market exchange rates rather than the official exchange rate, which is a fixed rate of 50.600 afghanis to the dollar
Fiscal year:
21 March - 20 March
