The country's banking system is slowly finding its feet again, but the deteriorating security situation poses a challenge
Nearly nine million Afghans are living in extreme poverty because of a lack of investment in farming, Mohammad Asif Rahimi, Afghanistan’s minister for agriculture, livestock and irrigation, said on October 16, World Food Day.
The World Bank estimates that about 36 percent of Afghans live below the poverty line or survive on less than $25 a month and nearly half the population lives on less than $30 a month. Minister Rahimi also said in the past three decades investment in agriculture had shrunk 43 percent.
Throughout 2009 and until mid-2010, the country was gripped by a price deflation. In 2009, average consumer price inflation was a negative 12.02 percent. Since then, prices have risen gradually, led by housing costs. By December 2010, the needle had swung to 12.09 percent. Afghanistan’s output grew 8.2 percent in 2010 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects it to expand by 7.4 percent in 2011.