UNDP: Afghanistan posts modest GDP growth but household subsistence worsens, report finds

Ghani Wignaraja, UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, and Stephen Rodriguez, UNDP resident representative in Afghanistan, presented a UNDP socio‑economic review titled “Fragile Gains, Deepening Subsistence and Security” in a virtual briefing. They said Afghanistan’s gross domestic product registered a modest rebound to about 2.7 percent, but household‑level indicators show deeper subsistence insecurity and widening regional disparities.

The report finds a divergence between macroeconomic indicators and household living standards. "This country, by not allowing 50% of its workforce — i.e. women — to actually contribute fully to the economy probably loses approximately close to a billion dollars in 2023 and 2024," Wignaraja said, adding that the exclusion is roughly equivalent to six percentage points of GDP. UNDP data cited in the briefing put the share of Afghans who are subsistence‑insecure at about 75 percent and said roughly 90 percent have experienced a major economic or natural disaster shock that they cannot cope with.

Stephen Rodriguez said the apparent GDP improvement is fragile and accompanied by structural problems, including a ballooning trade deficit…