Afghanistan: the Taliban prepare a first budget without international aid

The Taliban government's finance ministry in Afghanistan has prepared a draft state budget, which will be funded for the first time in 20 years without international aid, a ministry spokesperson said on Friday (December 17th).

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Its development comes as Afghanistan is mired in a deep economic crisis that threatens to turn into a humanitarian crisis, the UN World Food Program (WFP) having warned of a "

" to come. Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, did not specify the amount of the draft budget - which will run until December 2022 - but told AFP on Friday that it must be approved by the Afghan government before being released.

"

" he said earlier in an interview with public television RTA, excerpts of which were broadcast on Twitter.

International aid to Afghanistan was suspended after the Taliban returned to power in August, with Western countries freezing billions of dollars in assets held abroad.

The 2021 budget, drawn up by the previous regime under the aegis of the IMF, was shared between 219 billion afghanis (1.75 billion euros at the current rate) in international aid and 217 billion afghanis in revenue.