Afghanistan faces growing unemployment

Kabul, : The Afghan Ministry of Economy said that half of a million of labour force enters Afghanistan’s markets annually without finding employment.

The ministry of economy said that short term projects have been invested during the last 11 years in Afghanistan, and the country now faces growing unemployment.

The comments come as the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with cooperation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Bank in Constant Employment in Afghanistan studied the possible employment opportunities in the country.

According to the investigations, Afghan Economy Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said that Afghanistan’s 48% labour force is completely unemployed or they have seasonal jobs. The number is growing daily.

“We welcome international community’s aid in the last 11 years. We wish that the aid were invested based on our national needs. Most of the projects were short term to be soon finished or to satisfy donor countries about the projects. The projects were not implemented effectively which caused us to face unemployment.” Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said.

Meanwhile, the World Bank officials stressed on creating lasting job opportunities in Afghanistan.

“These are vitally important if the private sector can be an active partner in creating the jobs that are needed over the next several decades to come. The World Bank through the international finance cooperation is working with government ministries to deal with both construction and trade licence so that it can help the private sector to be more active in the areas of construction and trading,” said Illango Patchamuthu, World Bank Acting Country Director for Afghanistan.

The ministry said that fears from 2010 made main problems in Afghanistan and caused volatility of investments in the country.

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