Afghanistan’s export, revenue collection remain strong: WB

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan’s revenue collection, export performance remained strong during while the exchange rate remained stable during last fiscal year, according to an assessment report by the World Bank (WB) on Friday.

During Jan – Nov 2022, Afghanistan exported $1.7 billion worth of goods, compared to $ 0.9 billion and $ 0.8 billion for the full years 2021 and 2020, the global lender said in its report.

Data from customs authorities showed that Pakistan (65 percent) and India (20 percent) are the two main export destinations.

Major exports include vegetable products (56 percent), mineral products (28 percent), and textiles (10 percent) – collectively contributing 94 percent of total exports.

According to the World Bank report Afghani currency slightly depreciated against the USD (by 1.5 percent), Euro (by 1.2 percent), and Chinese yuan (by 0.2 percent) between end-June and to end of December 2022 but appreciated against the Pakistan rupee (24.8 percent) and Indian rupee (2.6 percent). The central bank (DAB) is undertaking occasional auctions in the forex market. However, no data is available on the central bank website to confirm the frequency and auctioned amount.

Overall revenue collection reached 135.9 billion afs (US$ 1.54 billion) between March 22, 2022, and December 21, 2022, in line with 2020 results.

Afghanistan continued to rely relatively heavily on revenue collected at the border — as opposed to inland revenue collection. For example, for the period under discussion, the taxes at borders reached 58 percent of the total revenue.

Revenue from inland sources reached AFN61 billion (US$ 0.7 billion) from March 21 till the end of December 2022, of which non-tax sources contributed the most.

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