Country Fact Sheet deteriorated in 2009, but in spite of difficulties, Afghanistan has enjoyed mostly favourable macroeconomic conditions, with high GDP growth (22.5percent) and declining prices in 2009/10 While the international community remains committed to Afghanistan’s development, pledging over $57 billion at three donors’ conferences since 2002, the Government of Afghanistan will need to overcome a number of challenges, including low revenue collection, anemic job creation, high levels of corruption, weak government capacity and poor public infrastructure. The inflation rate in 2009 was 30,5 %. 2. Labor The labor force in 2004 was 15 millions from which 78% agriculture, 5,7 % industry, 15,7 % services. •
Agriculture
Opium poppy production and the opium trade continue to have a significant monetary share of the country’s agricultural economy. However, both this share and the number of farmers growing poppy continue to decline, as more farmers are taking advantage of opportunities to produce and market alternative crops. Licit commercial agriculture is playing a significant role in increasing the income of rural populations. The major food crops produced are: corn, rice, barley, wheat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. The major industrial crops are: cotton, tobacco, madder, castor beans, and sugar beets. Agricultural production is constrained by an almost total dependence on erratic winter snows and spring rains for water; irrigation is primitive. Relatively little use is made of machines, chemical fertilizer, or pesticides. •
Trade and Industry
Afghanistan is endowed with natural resources, including extensive deposits of natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, and precious and semiprecious stones. Unfortunately, ongoing instability in certain areas of the country, remote and rugged terrain, and an inadequate infrastructure and transportation network have made mining these resources difficult, and there have been few serious attempts to further explore or exploit them. The Ministry of Mines also plans to move forward with oil, gas, and possibly iron ore tenders in 2010. The most important resource has been natural gas, first tapped in 1967. At their peak during the 1980s, natural gas sales accounted for $300 million a year in export revenues (56% of the total). Ninety percent of these exports went to the Soviet Union to pay for imports and debts. However, during the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, Afghanistan’s natural gas fields were capped to prevent sabotage by the mujahidin. Restoration of gas production has been hampered by internal strife and the disruption of traditional trading relationships following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, efforts are underway to create Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs). ROZs stimulate badly needed jobs in underdeveloped areas where extremists lure fighting-age young men into illicit and destabilizing activities. 3. Economic Activity Economic activity is mostly handled through market and bazaar structures, be it in rural or urban areas, with the exception it seems of the Western region, where economic activity 8