Dear Investor:
The Government of Afghanistan has committed itself to having a “market economy”, and supporting the private sector as a means to achieve an effective prosperity in Afghanistan.
Your decision to consider investing in Afghanistan is a smart one. There is no region in the world with greater untapped economic potential than Central Asia. It is an area richly gifted with both human and natural resources. Consequently, profitable investment opportunities abound.
Afghanistan has always been at the heart of the major trading routes, amongst them, the fabled Silk Road, in one of many that have served this region. During the past four years, the Afghan people have majorly progressed towards peace and prosperity and its economy has strongly grown. Afghanistan is emerging once again as a key hub for trade as the economies of Central and South Asia continue to grow and become increasingly integrated into the global economy.
The Government of Afghanistan understands the critical role it must play to create an enabling environment for investment. The passage of the Private Investment Law in 2006 was an important milestone demonstrating the Government’s commitment to attracting new investment. The Investment Law allows for one hundred percent foreign ownership, easy repatriation of profits, and treats foreign investors in the same fashion as domestic investors.
The Government has adopted a pro-private sector stance and a liberal trade regime. In this environment, the economy has been growing at approximately 10% per year. Although this dipped to just 3.4% between 2007 and 2008, in 2010 Afghanistan enjoyed a historically high GDP growth rate of 22.5 percent and declining prices. Part of this volatility is due to the continued reliance on agriculture which is around 30% of the GDP and is subject to weather related fluctuations.
Our Financial Management Law emphasizes fiscal discipline and management of public finances in line with the current international standard of best practice. The 100 % write off of Afghanistan’s old debt, combined with the Government’s policy of maintaining a balanced budget, allows for Afghanistan to now be one of the least indebted governments in the world.
Afghanistan has a very liberal foreign exchange system which allows people to legally bring money to the country and easily take it out again. Individuals, companies, and banks are allowed to operate foreign exchange accounts in Afghanistan.
In 2005, the tax code was restructured and clarified with an emphasis on simplicity and low taxation and our export taxes have been removed for almost all products. Afghanistan has the lowest tariffs in the region and its tariff categories are simple and few in number.
Afghanistan has created a highly pro-business investment regime. In some areas, as measured by the World Bank’s Doing Business Indicator, it scores very highly. Thus we rank number 23 out of 183 countries for establishing a business.
For further information on Trade and Investment in Afghanistan, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you,
Shakib Noori
Commercial Attaché
Embassy of Afghanistan
2341 Wyoming Ave. NW Washington DC., 20008
Direct line: (202) 292-4286
Fax: (202) 483-6488
www.embassyofafghanistan.org
