: purchasing power parity-$19.3 billion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: NA%

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$800 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 53%
industry: 28.5%
services: 18.5% (1990)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 240% (1996 est.)

Labor force:
total: 7.1 million
by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 67.8%, industry 10.2%,
construction 6.3%, commerce 5.0%, services and other 10.7% (1980 est.)

Unemployment rate: 8% (1995 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries: small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture,
shoes, fertilizer, and cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, oil,
coal, copper

Electricity-capacity: 494,000 kW (1995)

Electricity-production: 655 million kWh (1995)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 37 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: wheat, fruits, nuts, karakul pelts; wool, mutton

Exports:
total value: $80 million (1996 est.)
commodities: fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides
and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems
partners: FSU, Pakistan, Iran, Germany, India, UK, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia

Imports:
total value: $150 million (1996 est.)
commodities: food and petroleum products; most consumer goods
partners: FSU, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, Singapore, India, South Korea,
Germany

Debt-external: $2.3 billion (March 1991 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA; about $45 million in UN aid plus additional bilateral
aid and aid in kind (1997)
note: US provided $450 million in bilateral assistance (1985-93); US
continues to contribute to multilateral assistance through the UN
programs of food aid, immunization, land mine removal, and a wide
range of aid to refugees and displaced persons

Currency: 1 afghani (AF) = 100 puls

Exchange rates: afghanis (Af) per US$1-17,000 (December 1996), 7,000
(January 1995), 1,900 (January 1994), 1,019 (March 1993), 850 (1991);
note-these rates reflect the free market exchange rates rather than
the official exchange rate, which was fixed at 50.600 afghanis to the
dollar until 1996, when it rose to 2,262.65 per dollar, and finally
became fixed again at 3,000.00 per dollar on April 1996

Fiscal year: 21 March-20 March

Communications

Telephones: 31,200 (1983 est.)

Telephone system:
domestic: very limited telephone and telegraph service
international: satellite earth stations-1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)