Overview: Fundamentally, Afghanistan is an extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on farming (wheat especially) and livestock raising (sheep and goats). Economic considerations, however, have played second fiddle to political and military upheavals, including the nine-year Soviet military occupation (ended 15 February 1989) and the continuing bloody civil war. Over the past decade, one-fourth of the population has fled the country, with Pakistan sheltering 3 million refugees and Iran taking perhaps 2 million. Great numbers of the remaining population have left the countryside for the city, with possibly over half now in urban areas, a reversal of the past pattern. Large numbers of bridges, buildings, and factories have been destroyed by military action or sabotage. Government claims to the contrary, gross national product almost certainly is lower than 10 years ago because of the loss of labor and capital and the disruption of trade and transport. Economic activity now serves to furnish basic human wants and military necessity, not long-term development planning.

GDP: $3 billion, per capita $200; real growth rate 0% (1989 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 20% (1988 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues NA; expenditures $646.7 million, including capital expenditures of $370.2 million (FY87 est.)

Exports: $552 million (f.o.b., FY87); @m5commodities--natural gas 55%, fruits and nuts 24%, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides, and pelts; @m5partners--mostly USSR and Eastern Europe

Imports: $1,404 million (c.i.f., FY87); @m5commodities--food and petroleum products; @m5partners--mostly USSR and Eastern Europe

External debt: $1.8 billion (December 1988)

Industrial production: growth rate 6.2% (FY89 plan)

Electricity: 480,000 kW capacity; 1,700 million kWh produced, 120 kWh per capita (1988)

Industries: small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, and cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, oil, coal, copper

Agriculture: largely subsistence farming and animal husbandry; cash products--wheat, fruits, nuts, karakul pelts, wool, mutton; self-sufficient in food in years of average output; an illegal producer of opium poppy and cannabis for the international drug trade

Aid: NA

Currency: afghani (plural--afghanis); 1 afghani (Af) = 100 puls

Exchange rates: afghanis (Af) per US$1--50.6 (fixed rate since 1982)

Fiscal year: 21 March-20 March

NOTE: The information regarding Afghanistan on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Afghanistan Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Afghanistan Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.