World Bank reports 8 per cent rise in Afghanistan revenue collection

KABUL (Agencies): Revenue collection in Afghanistan for the first five months of the fiscal year 2023 reached 76 billion afghanis, which shows an 8 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year, the World Bank said in a new report.
Revenue collection in the period, however, is lower than the five-monthly target by AFN 7 billion, the report said.
Customs duty and Business receipt tax accounted for 60 percent of the collection.
According to the report, for the first seven months of 2023, imports reached US$4.4 billion, marking a 32 percent increase from the same period in 2022.
While exports grew three percent in the first seven months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, monthly export data indicates a decline in trend since February 2023 due to a decrease in coal exports, the report said.
World Bank said that despite the widening trade deficit, Afghani has appreciated since the beginning of 2023. Between January and August 24, 2023, Afghani appreciated against the US dollar by 7.3 percent.
“In addition to unidentified external flows, the AFN’s gains partly stem from the ban on foreign currencies for domestic transactions, limited domestic money supply, higher remittances, and UN dollar shipments. In 2023, UN inflows were around US$1.12 billion,” the report said.
The report also said that since April 2023, the country has experienced deflation, likely due to improved supply, appreciating AFN, and the economy still adjusting to structurally lower aggregate demand.