Economy - overview Afghanistan is an extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependenton farming and livestock raising (sheep and goats). Economic considerations have played second fiddle to political and military upheavals during morethan 17 years of war, including the nearly 10-year Soviet military occupation(which ended 15 February 1989). During the war one-third of the populationfled the country, with Pakistan and Iran sheltering a combined peak of morethan 6 million refugees. Now, only 750,000 registered Afghan refugees remainin Pakistan and about 1.2 million in Iran. Another 1 million have probablymoved into and around urban areas within Afghanistan. Gross domestic producthas fallen substantially over the past 17 years because of the loss of laborand capital and the disruption of trade and transport. Millions of peoplecontinue to suffer from insufficient food, clothing, housing, and medicalcare. Inflation remains a serious problem throughout the country, with oneestimate putting the rate at 240% in Kabul in 1996. Numerical data are likelyto be either unavailable or unreliable.

GDP purchasing power parity - $18.1 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate NA%

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $800 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 56%
industry: 15%
services: 29%

Inflation rate - consumer price index 240% (1996 est.)

Labor force
total: 7.1 million
by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 67.8%, industry 10.2%, construction6.3%, commerce 5.0%, services and other 10.7% (1980 est.)

Unemployment rate 8% (1995 est.)

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 371,000 kW (1993)

Electricity - production 670 million kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita 35 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products wheat, fruits, nuts, karakul pelts; wool, mutton

Exports
total value: $80 million (1996 est.)
commodities: fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, preciousand semi-precious gems
partners : FSU, Pakistan, Iran, Germany, India, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia

Imports
total value : $150 million (1996 est.)
commodities: food and petroleum products; most consumer goods
partners: FSU, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, Singapore, India, South Korea, Germany

Debt - external $2.3 billion (March 1991 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA; about $56 million in UN aid plus additional bilateral aid and aidin kind (1996)
note: US provided $450 million in bilateral assistance (1985-93); US continuesto contribute to multilateral assistance through the UN programs of food aid,immunization, land mine removal, and a wide range of aid to refugees and displacedpersons

Currency 1 afghani (AF) = 100 puls

Exchange rates afghanis (Af) per US$1 - 17,000 (December 1996), 7,000 (January 1995),1,900 (January 1994), 1,019 (March 1993), 850 (1991); note - these rates reflectthe free market exchange rates rather than the official exchange rate, whichis a fixed rate of 50.600 afghanis to the dollar

Fiscal year 21 March - 20 March

NOTE: The information regarding Afghanistan on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Afghanistan Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Afghanistan Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.