INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The absence of GDP growth coupled with declining external financing avenues for off-budget expenditures paint a bleak picture of
Afghanistan&s economic prospects, the World Bank said.After a severe 20.7 percent GDP contraction in 2021, the Afghan economy contracted
further by 6.2 percent in 2022, the bank said in a report.&While Afghanistan&s agricultural and subsistence economy, including illicit opium
production, provided some resilience in rural areas, higher prices, reduced demand, lower employment, and disruptions to services had severe
impacts across the country,& it said.The proportion of households that did not have enough income to meet basic food needs more than doubled
from 16 percent to 36 percent in this period, according to the bank.In the context of deep concerns about the policies of the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), including restrictions imposed on women and girls, the international community, including the World Bank,
recalibrated its approach to supporting Afghanistan: first to providing humanitarian support and then to providing off-budget support for
basic service delivery and livelihoods.However, IEA moved to restore domestic revenues, which reached $2.2 billion or 15 percent of GDP in
&Nevertheless, overall economic activity remained depressed, unemployment stayed high, and the banking sector was dysfunctional due to
constraints on international transfers and concerns about liquidity and solvency.&World Bank said that Afghanistan&s economic outlook
remains uncertain, with the threat of stagnation looming large until at least 2025
&This economic stagnation will deepen poverty and unemployment, with job opportunities expected to decrease and food insecurity expected to
increase.&The bank noted that for a sustainable future, Afghanistan needs to focus on its comparative advantages, particularly in the
agricultural and extractive sectors
Agriculture could be a key driver of growth and poverty reduction, with the potential to create jobs, it added.The post Afghanistan&s
economic prospects are bleak: World Bank first appeared on Ariana News.
