KABUL - Afghan stone mason Khan Mohammad says he hasn't had a proper job in three months.
Standing on a cold street corner in Kabul early on Friday, Mohammad and a
few dozen other men are hoping to get a day's work.
"I've managed to get only two days as a laborer, not as a mason," Mohammad
said. He was paid 180 afghanis ($3.60) one day and 200 afghanis ($4) the
other.
He said he would wait all day in the hope someone would give him work and
would only go back to his rented room where he lives with his wife and
five children after dark.
"I have to sneak back after dark to avoid the shop-keepers I owe money
to," he said.
Afghanistan's economy is growing, despite a stubborn insurgency in the
south and east, but for many Afghans, such as Mohammad, life isn't getting
any easier.
The International Monetary Fund said last month Afghanistan's economy was
set to grow 14 percent in 2005/06, although that was likely to slow to 10
percent by year-end.
Good weather boosted agriculture last year. Construction also remains
buoyant while inflationary pressures have eased, the IMF said.
"The economy has improved now if you compare with four years ago, but not
enough to satisfy everyone," Minister of Economy Mohammad Amin Farhang,
told Reuters in an interview this week.
The government says it is aiming for 10 percent growth annually over the
next five years and has drawn up a plan -- known as the Interim National
Development Strategy -- that sets out a range of development targets.
The plan will be presented at an international conference on Afghanistan
in London at the end of the month, where Afghanistan is hoping to get
promises of help on security and development.
Poverty pervasive
Afghanistan's international backers are likely to seek assurances on
problems from drugs to security, to corruption and the government's capacity to
handle aid properly.
Since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, $11.8 billion of
aid has been disbursed, according to government figures, but many Afghans
remain mired in poverty.
Even in Kabul, residents are plagued by power cuts while many of the
city's roads are in appalling condition.
Only 13 percent of Afghans have access to safe water and 12 percent to
adequate sanitation, according to the World Bank. Only 6 percent of Afghans
have access to mains electricity.
"Poverty is pervasive," said Ameerah Haq, the U.N. secretary-general's
deputy representative in Afghanistan.
"We've got about 6.8 million people who are chronically hungry ... We have
about 53 percent of the population living below the poverty line, less
than a dollar a day. These are daunting figures," she told Reuters.
A major problem is public revenue. Afghanistan has one of the lowest
ratios of gross domestic product to domestic revenue earned, about 4.5 percent,
Haq said.
The United Nations is recommending a two-pronged development strategy --
investment in infrastructure to take advantage of the country's position at
the cross-roads of Asia and the Middle East -- and broad-based rural
development.
"It requires a lot of economic stimulus to increase the amount of revenue
but also to have external aid allocated in a way which allows growth from
both sides -- one trying to bring in foreign income, the other saying the
vast majority of the population are rural, so let's try and lift them up,"
Haq said.
Anja de Beer, director of an umbrella organization coordinating the
efforts of aid groups, said the lives of most Afghans had improved and parts of
the government were doing a good job in defining policy and getting it
implemented. "There are still huge problems. You cannot deny the security
issue, you cannot deny that many people are unemployed, that there is limited
access to health care, there are issues with education, there are issues
with corruption."
"(But) Afghans are so focused on moving forward ... so intent on making a
better future, I think that gives cause for optimism," she said.
PIN/REUTERS
کد خبر 78202