With five reforms in the past year, Afghanistan has improved its position from 183rd to 167th position in the global ease of doing business rankings, the World Bank said in its latest annual report on Wednesday.
World Bank and Afghanistan sign grant agreements for reforms worth $350 million
New grant agreements worth around 350 Million US Dollars were signed between Afghanistan and World Bank with an aim to support the reforms in Afghanistan.
The World Bank in a statement said the grant agreements were signed by Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi, Afghanistan’s acting Minister of Finance, and Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan.
The statement further added that the reforms are designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness in government operations for better revenue mobilization and service delivery. The new financing package supports reforms in the business environment, the energy sector, and land administration to promote economic growth and employment and reduce poverty for all Afghans.
Govt Lost $125m Aid Over Financial Strategy Failure
The government has lost $125m in World Bank aid due to its failure to implement certain standards and financial strategies in the custom sectors, the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) said on Wednesday said.
According to SAO, the World Bank had recommended that Afghan government implement standards and financial strategies in the custom sectors aimed at providing better services. In response to the commitment, the World Bank would have committed some money in incentives to Afghan government.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has said that Afghanistan still has enough time to deliver on its commitment to the recommendations offered by the World Bank until end of 2018.
“In 2016 an amount of $224 million had been allocated for at least ten benchmarks, but the institutions managed to implement only five and the money came to the government treasury,” said Sayed Mohammad Mahdi Hussaini, professional deputy of the Supreme Audit Office.