Achievements of the Office of Deputy Minister of Finance in 2020

2020 was a challenging fiscal year worldwide, particularly in Afghanistan, where Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 5%. Budgetary pressure on the Afghan government from its discretionary resources was Afs 67 billion, which pushed the Ministry of Finance to readjust its budget three times over one year to counter the negative impacts of COVID-19. Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance attracted USD 1.13 billion in discretionary assistance from its international development partners. Despite all these challenges, for the first time in the last two decades, the Ministry of Finance was able to pay the remuneration of all 145,791 pensioners on time through a digitized mechanism.

The Ministry of Finance undertook the Development Cooperation Dialogue with the development partners and Chair the Ministerial and National Focal Point Meeting of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Member Countries. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance, along with its internal, external partners, successfully held the Geneva Conference, which secures international partners' commitment for USD 3.3 billion annually. The Ministry of Finance was also able to prepare the national budget for 2021. The development budget focuses on water management by constructing small, medium, large dams and irrigation canals, job creation, transport, energy, health, education infrastructures, modernization of customs, and digitization of government systems and processes.