Afghanistan lost 700,000 jobs since August 15: UNDP

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has said since August 15 last year, more than 700,000 jobs have been lost in Afghanistan and the poverty rate reached more than 90 percent, but the country was still not in a state of despair.

Abdallah Al Dardari, the Resident Representative for the UNDP in Afghanistan, said in a message to the Gulf countries that by 2030, jobs should be provided for 12 million Afghan citizens in order to restore Afghanistan’s economy to 2015 levels.

He called on Arab nations in the Persian Gulf to work with the organization for the sake of economic growth and development in Afghanistan and to provide job opportunities for Afghans.

“Afghanistan, a country that is severely economically vulnerable due to war, insecurity, and the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as recent political developments; needs to achieve more than 12 million jobs by 2030,” said Al Dardari.

“We want to revive the proper economy that Afghanistan had in 2015, this is a big goal and we believe that we will create two million jobs for Afghan men and women in the next three years through this strategy. I would like to work with you on this strategy,.”

This comes after his recent trips to the Persian Gulf region where he held talks with officials from Gulf countries regarding Afghanistan.

While he did not say how the jobs would be created, he noted there is a need for jobs to be created through the growth of the private sector and that support of industries is needed. He also said the facilitation of trade and the development of Afghanistan’s export sector was necessary.

ma

Views: 141