Minister of Economy Mustafa Mastoor said that due to the spread of COVID-19, the country’s economic growth will decline by 3% while poverty will increase by 7% this year.

Mastoor, who was at a virtual summit on the theme “Supporting the Revival of the Private Sector in Central Asia Post COVID-19” said that the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with other departments is preparing a package to help support small and medium-sized enterprises with municipality taxes, easy loans and other things.

The package was proposed by the Economic High Council and the Cabinet is in the process of approving it.
Before COVID-19, Afghanistan’s economy was forecasted to grow by another 0.5% in the previous fiscal year.
World Bank estimates during the pandemic, put the expected contraction at up to 4% in 2020 with additional substantial risks like political stability, deterioration of security condition and further adverse regional development exacerbating it.