Afghanistan gets $10bn FDI

War-ravaged Afghanistan has attracted $10 billion in foreign direct investments led by UAE telecom major etisalat which has over three million subscribers in the country, a senior Afghan official said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Afghanistan International Investment Conference (AIIC) in Dubai, Afghanistan’s Minister of Finance Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said foreign investors who have entered Afghanistan have only had growth figures to show to the world.

“The best example is Etisalat from the UAE. It entered the Afghan market at the right time and today has about three million subscribers with a network coverage that stretches across the country. The business has also succeeded and the company is profitable.”

According to him the foreign investment has crossed $10 billion figure and an additional $15 billion will be invested during the coming years.

“Our economy has been growing in double digits in real terms for the last 8 years, peaking at 22 percent last year. Inflation has been kept under control while prices have been hiking in the region. We are making impressive strides towards fiscal sustainability and our revenue collections have been phenomenal in the last two years with a growth of 125 per cent,” said Zakhilwal.

He said special emphasis being placed on the infrastructure – transportation and power which are a major hurdle for investments in Afghanistan. “The National-Regional Resource Corridor project will connect Afghanistan to the region and the rest of the world,” he added.

According to him the shortest potential route connecting central Asian Countries to the Indian Ocean is through Afghanistan and therefore, railway development has a lot of potential and work is in progress on many fronts.

Afghanistan has been ravaged by decades of war since the invasion of Soviet Union.

Zakhilwal blamed negative media as the main stumbling block for the economy’s success. In its constant search for negative reporting, media has failed to report the extent of progress the Afghan society and the economy has made said senior Afghan officials attending the conference.

“During the past few years all we have heard about Afghanistan is the story of corruption, violence and bad governance. Today our main challenge is not corruption or violence, but the perception. While we have created  mechanism to address these concerns, the negative perception continues to remain a challenge. Media organization have damaged Afghanistan’s reputation,” he added.

Afghanistan's Kabulbank is being investigated and the lender is under the control of the central bank, the Afghan finance minister said.

"Mismanagement is being investigated," Omar Zakhilwal said on the sidelines of an Afghanistan investment conference in Dubai.

Zakhilwal confirmed the lender was now under the control of the central bank.

Other speakers including Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs for Australia, Franco Frattini, Minster of Foreign Affairs for Italy and Preneet Kaur, India’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, stressed the need for strengthening the business environment and spoke on the growing potential the Afghan market offered to investors.

Frattini said Italy could join hands with the UAE to strengthen the co-operation in Afghanistan and assist the country in reconstruction.

 “There is a greater need today more than ever before to strengthen and utilize the local talent and drive them towards success. We have a strong business relationship with the UAE and it would be a great idea if both the business communities can join hands and work in Afghanistan,” said Kaur.

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