The striking feature of the first national budget being choreographed by the Taliban government in Afghanistan is that ~ for the first time in two decades ~ the critical statement on finances and resources thereof is being prepared without foreign assistance. The vital task is sought to be accomplished at a direly critical juncture ~ when the country is mired in a severe economic crisis.
The draft budget will be enforced till December 2022, though its size and sectoral outlays are yet to be disclosed. It will be advanced to the cabinet of hardliners for approval before being disclosed to the people. “We are trying to finance it from our domestic revenues, and we believe we can,” is a finance ministry official’s contention, as expressed to state television. The task is as intricate as it is seemingly forbidding. Not the least because global donors had suspended financial aid when the Talban seized power in August.
In parallel, Western powers froze access to billions of dollars in assets held abroad. Afghanistan’s economy, therefore, is stuttering. Confusion gets worse confounded as the international community has thus far declined to recognize the new government. It would be pertinent to recall that the 2021 budget put together by the previous administration helmed by Ashraf Ghani had projected a deficit despite $ 2.7 billion in grants and aid and 217 billion “Afghanis” (the country’s currency) in terms of revenue.
Public servants are still owed several months of wages, and a new pay-scale is reported to be on the anvil. The new government’s revenue department said last month that it had collected 6 billion “Afghanis” in the previous two-and-a-half months, and 13 billion in Customs duties. It has also announced a new Islamic tax to fund aid projects for orphans and the poor.
An Afghan economist has said that the new budget would probably be only a quarter of that for 2021. He might have been overly cynical, but in the absence of recognition by the comity of nations, the going is bound to be tough on the fiscal front. Not wholly unrelated is Kabul’s appeal on Friday to seek Afghanistan’s seat in the United Nations after the ambassador of the former US-backed government left his post.
Incidentally, the UN seat is at the centre of the tug-of-war between exiled diplomats of the previous regime and the country’s new Islamist rulers. Ghulam Asaczai, the Afghan ambassador, relinquished his post on December 15. The Taliban nominee for the post, Suhail Shaheen, said the seat ought now to be given to the government of hardliners. At the end of the day, it is a matter of credibility for the world body. Four months after the Taliban assumed power, Afghanistan’s economy and diplomacy have become closely intertwined. Neither seem in particularly good shape