KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce has announced that Afghanistan’s exports in the 1403 solar year amounted to $1.785 billion, while imports surged to $11.164 billion, further widening the country’s trade deficit.
Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, the ministry’s spokesperson, stated on Sunday (March 23) that Afghanistan’s primary export destinations included Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Turkey, Iraq, and Tajikistan.
He added that the country’s main exports were agricultural products such as figs, cotton, and raisins, alongside carpets, lead ingots, and precious and semi-precious stones, which also saw a rise in overseas sales.
Afghanistan’s key import partners in 1403 were Iran, the UAE, Pakistan, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, India, and Malaysia. The country’s top imported goods included diesel, petrol, wheat flour, vehicle parts, liquefied gas, cotton textiles, pharmaceutical products, cooking oil, and rice.
Jawad claimed that Afghanistan’s trade sector had undergone “positive changes” in 1403 but did not provide specifics regarding the nature of these changes or the overall trade balance.
According to the National Statistics and Information Authority, Afghanistan’s imports in 1402 totaled $8.576 billion, while exports stood at $1.777 billion. A comparison of the data from the last two years indicates a slight increase in exports, but a sharp rise in imports of $2.588 billion.
