KABUL: Afghanistan’s Ministry of Economy (MoEc) said that the implementation of development projects within the framework of national priorities and an increase in the level of budget spend has helped boost Afghanistan’s economic growth rate.
By investing around 20 billion Afs within the framework of the national budget, the country’s economic growth rate is up by one percent, said the ministry of economy.
“Our assessment from the GDP shows that every eighteen to twenty billion Afs investment contributes one percent increase to the economic growth,” said Suhrab Bahman, spokesman for the ministry of economy.
Economic commentators have raised concerns over the issues facing national budget spend every year, suggesting President Ashraf Ghani should implement reward and punishment programs in order to achieve better outcomes.
According to the ministry, it is better for government to spend the national budget through government’s financial units as this would help boost economic progress in the country.
But economists say that their evaluations indicate that the implementation of transitional projects and allocation of new funds within the national budget system have contributed nothing significant to the national economic growth.
Statistics given by government show that from the total amount of more than 400 billion Afs national budget, 50 percent of it comes from the transitional budget.
The ministry of economy predicts that Afghanistan would surpass the current two percent economic growth and reach three percent next year.
“We expect that our economic growth in 1396 (2017) will be around three percent,” said Bahman.
Economic analysts have called on government to outline more comprehensive and working strategies to boost capacity of government institutions and address the problems facing the allocation of budget.
They also suggest government should take steps and define new mechanisms to attract investment in the country.
“The problem is that the budget is not drafted on the basis of proper planning which also causes problems to government institutions at the end of a fiscal year,” said economic analyst Shabir Bashiri.