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Pakistani goods transported to Central Asia without any problems: Afghanistan

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(Last Updated On: February 18, 2023)

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce said on Saturday that Pakistani goods are transported to Central Asian countries through Afghanistan without any problems.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said that Afghanistan offers immense opportunities in terms of realisation of Pakistan’s vision to becoming a trade and energy connectivity hub and integration of South, Central, and Western Asia.

However, she said the current political situation coupled with the threat of terrorism poses a challenge for the region. She said that the full potential of Pakistan’s relationship with the Central Asian Republics is largely unexplored due to the situation in Afghanistan.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Islamic Emirate, however, says that Pakistan’s goods are transported to Central Asian countries without any problems through Afghanistan.

“Countries that want to transit through Afghanistan should not worry at all. Any country that says there is insecurity in Afghanistan, we reject it completely. We assure the neighboring countries that we have secured the roads and there is no problem,” Abdulsalam Akhundzada said.

Investors also say that Afghanistan has played its transit role in the region to meet the economic needs of Central and South Asian countries.

“We have always had exports to Pakistan. Our goods, our fruits, our vegetables have been perished, but no one has so far said that the goods of the Pakistani businessmen have been stopped or damaged on the way to Afghanistan,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, an investor.

Economic experts also say that considering the current economic situation in Afghanistan and the region, Kabul can play an important role in the economic relations of the countries and get huge profits from it.

“I think that since the establishment of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, there has been tremendous progress in the security sector,” says Taj Mohammad Talash, an expert on economic affairs. “Afghanistan is ready for regional connectivity.”

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Ministry of commerce allocates land for oil refineries

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(Last Updated On: March 14, 2024)

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi, said in a meeting with oil refinery officials that as soon as they are ready to invest, the ministry will establish an oil and gas industrial park.

In this meeting, refinery officials discussed problems regarding the Qashqari oil field and agreed that land should be provided. They said oil extracted from Qashqari needed to be refined through the standard process.

Azizi, while announcing the cooperation and support of the Islamic Emirate and especially the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the private sector of the country, said: “A joint proposal should be arranged and submitted to this ministry for the land of the refineries, and also if the officials of the refineries are ready to invest in the area of Dara-e-Hairatan, an oil and gas industrial park will be created and the land will be placed under their control.”

Azizi emphasized the need to increase the capacity of existing refineries and the quality of oil, shared the decision of the High Economic Commission regarding the establishment of a large refinery.

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Pakistan’s Federal Secretary of Commerce invited to visit Kabul

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(Last Updated On: March 11, 2024)

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, has invited Pakistan’s Federal Secretary of Commerce Mohammad Khurram Agha to visit Kabul.

In a virtual meeting, the two sides discussed the progress made in the last two and a half years in the country, the increase in trade between the two countries, solving problems and removing trade and transit barriers.

They also discussed the need for more facilities, establishing close relations between the governments and private sectors of the two countries and boosting regional cooperation, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement Monday.

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Headline inflation in Afghanistan down to -10.2% in January: World Bank

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(Last Updated On: March 11, 2024)

In January 2024, headline inflation experienced a significant downturn, reaching -10.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, the World Bank said in a report.

This substantial drop was largely due to a sharp decline in prices across both food and non-food categories, the report said.

Moreover, core inflation, which strips out the typically volatile food and energy sectors, also fell into negative territory, posting a rate of -6.5 percent on year-on-year basis.

“This ongoing core deflation reflects a troubling inability of both private and public sectors to stimulate sufficient demand. While this period of falling prices may offer temporary financial relief to the most vulnerable households by reducing the cost of living, it can also harm the broader macroeconomy,” the World Bank said.

According to the bank, Afghanistan’s exports contracted by 5 percent on year-on-year basis to $140.5 million in January 2024, down from $148.1 million the previous January.

Food exports to India jumped by 22 percent, compared to an 18 percent decline in Pakistan. Pakistan and India continued to be the top export destinations, claiming 45 percent and 34 percent of the total exports in January 2024, respectively.

The 2023 growth trend in imports extended into January 2024, hitting $830 million, up 37 percent from $600 million in January 2023.

According to the report, in 2023, the afghani (AFN) saw a significant 27 percent appreciation against the US dollar, buoyed by the influx of around $1.8 billion in UN cash shipments and an estimated $2 billion in remittances.

Revenues have been below the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) target during the first eleven months of FY2024, with border taxes underperforming despite a surge in imports.

Over the eleven-month span of FY2024, from March 22, 2023, to February 21, 2024, Afghanistan’s revenue collection reached AFN 189 billion, narrowly missing the target by 2 percent but marking a 5.6 percent increase from the previous fiscal year, the report said.

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