The Ministry of Finance (MoF) said on Monday that at least 7,000 projects of the Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program (CCNPP) remained unfinished across Afghanistan.

The CCNPP was a key national program launched in 2016 aimed to reduce poverty, improve socio-economic conditions for communities and stop the migration of young people, and it was divided into three phases.

The spokesman of the MoF, Ahmad Wali Haqmal, said that $1 billion was allocated for the first phase of the program to implement at least 12,000 projects across the country, and 7,000 out of the 12,000 projects remain unfinished.

“Around 7,000 projects are incomplete, we are trying to contact the World Bank to complete at least the half-finished projects,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal.

The first phase of the program was expected to be finished at the end of 2022.

Economy experts believe that the rate of poverty will rise as the implementation of the projects has stopped in the country. “projects were funded mostly by the World Bank; the halt of the development projects in villages will increase poverty among villagers,” said Abdul Naseer Reshtia, an expert.

The Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program (CCNPP) was scheduled across ten years to implement thousands of small and large projects and it was suspended after the collapse of Ashraf Ghani's administration.