The draft budget for the fiscal year 1400 (2021) was submitted to the National Assembly a day after the 452 billion Afs ($5.8 billion) budget plan was approved by members of the cabinet.

From the amount, 73 percent of the ordinary budget and 10 percent of the development budget have been achieved from the national revenues, the acting minister of finance Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said.

From the total of 452 billion Afs, 296.3 billion Afs has been allocated for ordinary budget and 153.3 billion Afs for development budget.

This is the last budget plan that has been prepared on the basis of the commitments made in Brussels Summit.

“Commitments were made for the year 1400. These commitments were included in the budget plan, but the commitments that are expected to be made in Geneva Conference. Those commitments will be beyond 2021,” said Arghandiwal.

The Ministry of Finance said that despite rising spending and a reduction in aid, the share of domestic revenues in financing the next fiscal year is significant.

“The assistance is reducing. Simultaneously, some of the financial responsibilities in the security sector have been transferred to us by the donors,” said Abdul Habib Zadran, the deputy minister of finance for monetary affairs.

 “International aid is reducing for two reasons. Firstly, they have lost trust in the Afghan government and the present system in terms of bringing reforms and combating corruption. Secondly, they use the peace process as a pressure on the Afghan government, which is not justified,” said Nazir Kabiri, CEO of Biruni Institute.