Virgin Islands
NA
Wallis and Futuna
NA
Western Sahara
none
Yemen
NA
Zambia
NA
Zimbabwe
National Constitutional Assembly or NCA [Lovemore MADHUKU];
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition [Brian KAGORO]; Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions or ZCTU [Lovemore MATOMBO]
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@2116 Economy - overview
Afghanistan
Afghanistan's economic outlook has improved
significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 because
of the infusion of over $2 billion in international assistance,
recovery of the agricultural sector, and the reestablishment of
market institutions. Agriculture boomed in 2003 with the end of a
four-year drought, but drought conditions returned for the southern
half of the country in 2004. Despite the progress of the past few
years, Afghanistan remains extremely poor, landlocked, and highly
dependent on foreign aid, farming, and trade with neighboring
countries. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and
continuing donor aid and attention to raise Afghanistan's living
standards up from its current status among the lowest in the world.
Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of
housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs, but the
Afghan government and international donors remain committed to
improving access to these basic necessities by prioritizing
infrastructure development, education, housing development, jobs
programs, and economic reform over the next year. Growing political
stability and continued international commitment to Afghan
reconstruction create an optimistic outlook for maintaining
improvements in the Afghan economy in 2005. Expanding poppy
cultivation and a growing opium trade may account for one-third of
GDP and looms as one of Kabul's most serious policy challenges.