KABUL (SW) – In the last eleven months, commercial goods worth one billion and 717 million dollars have been exported from Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Islamic Emirate.
Coal, cotton, fresh and dry fruits, hemp seeds, carpet and saffron were the most important goods of Afghanistan which were exported in 2023 to Pakistan, India, United Arab Emirates, China, Iran and Turkey.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade says that the last eleven months, Afghanistan has imported goods worth nearly seven billion dollars.
Akhundzada Abdulsalam Jawad, the spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, tells Salam Watandar: “Afghanistan’s trade in the eleven months of 2023 was about eight billion and 691 million dollars, of which one billion and 717 million dollars were the exports and six billion and 974 million dollars were the imports.”
In the last two years, after the Islamic Emirate came to power, Afghanistan’s exports have increased a lot compared to the period of the republic government, and the export of coal and other minerals has a major role in this increase.
However, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment says that Afghanistan’s exports are slightly lower than the statistics provided by officials.
According to the statistics of this chamber, in the last eleven months, Afghanistan has exported more than one billion and 600 million dollars, which is more than 100 million dollars less than the figures presented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The officials of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, consider this amount of exports to be favorable and considering the current problems in the trade sector, they emphasizes that there are still fundamental challenges in the way of Afghanistan’s exports.
“Until our country is recognized and the political problems are not solved, our air corridor will not be activated and there are other problems and still other obstacles and bank restrictions that have created the problems” said Khanjan Alkozi, a member of the board of directors of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investments.
It should be mentioned that last year, Afghanistan exported goods worth nearly two billion dollars, and this year, coal, agricultural products and carpets made up a large part of it.
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