Afghan authorities have informed of increasing exports of coal to foreign countries in recent months, saying that opportunities have been provided for investors to invest in extraction of mines in the country.
A spokesperson to ministry of finance Ahmadwali Haqmal has said that in the past six months the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has collected nearly 3 billion AFG revenue from the country’s customs and more than 16 billion AFG from only coal’s exports.
This comes amid increasing price of coal in world markets. After Indonesia, the biggest exporters of coal to the world, banned coal exports in early 2022, the price of coal increased in world markets. When Russia attacked Ukraine in early 2022, the price unprecedentedly jumped in markets.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has recently increased coal exports rate to Pakistan as well as tax on the mine to maintain the budget and get more incomes. Afghan experts believe that the IEA took the step after increasing in price of coal in world markets.
Although Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, no considerable investment has been made on the resources. Previous government has not been able to take advantage of opportunities for absorption of investment on the country’s mines.
According to Afghan experts, investment on the country’s mines and natural resources will help change Afghanistan from a poor country to a developed and rich country.
Increasing in coal exports and investment on the mine can be good news for the people of Afghanistan. Recent step of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in this regard can encourage investors to further invest on this sector.
They say investment on mines and natural resources, continued encouragement of the IEA for investment in the country and supporting from Afghan investors can somehow save the country from the current economic crisis.
According to Afghan experts, extraction mines is a big income resource for the people of Afghanistan. They are asking the IEA to prevent from illegal extraction of mines in the country and continually monitor companies extracting the country’s minerals and mines. They also asked ministry of mines and petroleum to pave the way for the coal mines to be extracted professionally and legally. Based on information of the ministry of finance, coal exports to foreign countries have increased.
“Besides increasing demand and selling coal, last week taxes on coal exports increased from 20 – 30 percent,” said Ahmadwali Haqmal, the MoF spokesperson.
He said that exports and incomes have been considerably increased in the past few months comparing to the same period in previous government.
In early May of the current year, the IEA announced its annual budget and said it would completely depend on the domestic revenue; therefore, collecting incomes from customhouses and increasing exports are considered as key activities of the IEA in the past few months.
In connection with increasing coal exports to Pakistan, a deputy minister for mines and petroleum Mufti Asmatullah Burhan has recently told media that four local companies are engaged in producing and extracting coal from various coal mines mostly in the country’s north. In the meantime, Pakistan has recently increased coal imports from Afghanistan. Currently, South Africa is maintaining Pakistan’s almost 3 out of 4 demands for coal used mostly for the country’s cement industry. Amiri
Increasing Afghanistan coal exports to foreign countries
