maqsad

KABUL, Aug 27: Afghanistan’s economy has tripled in the past five years to reach almost $10 billion, the US commerce secretary said on Monday. The economy had grown on average by 15 per cent a year, making it one of the fastest-growing in the world, Carlos Gutierrez told journalists at the end of a two-day visit to the troubled country.

“There is a lot of work to do to enable Afghanistan to reach its economic potential,” he said.

“But I have been very impressed by the progress that has been made in this country over the last several years.”

In one example, only eight per cent of the population had access to health care in 2001, but the figure stood at 80 per cent today, he said.

Gutierrez held talks with President Hamid Karzai and businessmen during his visit, which was focused on trying to increase investment in Afghanistan.

Despite the growth figures, Afghanistan’s economy remains in ruins due to political instability and the government’s struggle to fight the Taliban.—AFP

Afghanistan’s economy tripled in five years -DAWN - Business; August 28, 2007

Big K

Maqsad,

out of topic but...is Maqsad means "purpose" "cause" or "intent" ?

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maqsad

Purpose/intent depending upon the context it is used in.

Big K

same use in Turkish too

maksat = maqsad

Cactus

It is probably straight from a Turkic language. Or a common term in any Asian military camp during Dark Ages (i.e a Horde, language of which is Urdu), where Turkic people were well represented and no doubt influenced by camp language.

Big K

military camp?

Cactus

Yes, you know where soldiers, their families, their followers, travelling merchants and in many cases even Kings, nobles and the entire courts lived? Used to be quite common all over Asia, most famous ones being those of the Mongol hordes of course. Soldiers came from all over the place, from Manchurians to Abyssinians, but Turkic soldiers were most common.

omon

how did it tripled in 5 years? 15% a year over 5 years =75% triple means 300%
75 is not 300.

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Cactus

To be fair, at 15% growth a year it would have grown 101% over 5 years (or doubled).

omon

yes you are right, i see where i,ve made a mistake, thanx.

Neo

Same as in Urdu, my language.
Btw, are you from Afghanistan?

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maqsad

No, I am from pakistan.

maqsad

If its really tripled in 5 years then the growth should have been 24.5% yearly, and if it doubled then the growth would have been 15% yearly, which they claim it was. It really doesn't make sense unless they did some sort of creative accounting and excluded the effect of foreign aid in the growth figures?

S-2

My question would be to what extent has the "blooming" of the opium trade injected start-up capital into the economy to facilitate this growth? There's a ton of cash floating about somewhere in Afghanistan's economy and my guess is that re-investment into the local economy makes sense on three fronts-

1.) It moves/launders illegitimate earnings into the general economy.

2.) That money then spins off "legitimate" profits of it's own.

3.) The quid pro quo for access to that illegitimate capital is protection of the drug lords and a high degree of acquiescence/control within legitimate business enterprises.

I'm utterly speculating but would be curious about the impact of the drug trade upon other business endeavors.

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Jay

Afghanistan had a bumper opium crop for this year, compared to last year, the output increased by about 25%. Thats some serious money when it becomes heroin and is sent to the streets of Europe.

The rest of the spending is mostly done in the security side, mostly American aid, almost $1o Billion from 2001.

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