Afghanistan’s Economic, Poverty and Gender Issues
A Look at Two New World Bank Reports and Their Implications for Policy
Despite showing signs of stabilization in 2022, the Afghan economy faces dire challenges as the country enters its third year under Taliban rule. With declining international aid and other economic shocks, even modest progress could evaporate at great harm to the Afghan people. The ongoing humanitarian crisis, already one of the worst in the world, particularly affects women and girls and could easily get worse.
It is under these precarious conditions that the World Bank has published two new reports: the latest “Afghanistan Development Update” and the third round of its ongoing “Afghanistan Welfare Monitoring Survey.” These reports lay out the country’s current economic context and its trends in welfare and poverty, underlining the severe problems facing the Afghan people.
On November 8, USIP and the World Bank hosted a conversation with two of the reports’ authors as well as leading experts on Afghanistan’s economy. The discussion looked at the reports’ policy implications, such as the country’s economic outlook, how the international community should respond, and what the Taliban can do to ameliorate the economic downturn and humanitarian crisis.
Speakers
Scott Worden, welcoming remarks
Director, Afghanistan and Central Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace
Eduardo Olaberria, opening remarks
Program Leader, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions for Afghanistan, The World Bank
Silvia Redaelli
Senior Economist, The World Bank
Muhammad Waheed
Senior Country Economist, The World Bank
Khalid Payenda
Director and Cofounder, Institute for Development and Economic Affairs
Paul Fishstein
Non-resident Fellow, Center on International Cooperation, New York University
Naheed Sarabi
Director and Cofounder, Institute for Development and Economic Affairs
Bill Byrd, moderator
Senior Expert, Afghanistan, U.S Institute of Peace
