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Officials of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on Sunday announced that the country's exports have increased by over 40 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, as compared to the previous year. However, the officials pointed out that there has been a six percent decline in the total imports in the present quarter.
According to available data, last year, Afghanistan's total export was valued at $64,000,000. In the first quarter of the current year, this number has increased to $100,000,000, indicating a 40 percent rise.
An increase in the export of fresh fruits, dry fruits, grains, vegetables, herbs, carpets, cotton and permanent production has resulted into a 40 percent rise.
On the contrary, officials of the ACCI do not believe in the legitimacy of these statistics and stated that if the data is collected again, the value of Afghanistan's exports will be more than what the present statistics indicate.
"Annually, our exportation is more than $100,000,000 because some of our export quality items do not get registered as they are smuggled. For instance, to extract ores, our jungles get cut and are later smuggled to Pakistan. If their actual expense be evaluated, our annual exportation will exceed $1 billion, excluding narcotics which annually make over $2 billion but we do not calculate it in our commerce," said Mohammad Qurban Haqjo, head of ACCI.
Talking about minerals export, the ACCI officials said that there has been a steep decline in mineral exportation. But, they assured that within the next six months exports will pick up significantly.
"In the last fiscal year, for the first time our exports had decreased. However, we have picked up this year and posted an increase in the overall exports," said Najlla Habibyar, CEO, Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the ACCI officials expressed hope that once the Chabahar port becomes operational, Afghanistan's exports will further increase.
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