A recent report suggests that the volume of trade between Iran and Afghanistan has declined by 40% during the rule of Taliban in Kabul.
The report released by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture noted that the fall in trade between the two neighboring countries was mainly caused by US sanctions against Afghanistan’s banking network.
Ruhollah Latifi, the spokesman of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), said early in April that government change in Afghanistan and decreased purchasing power of the Afghan people have led to a fall in Iran’s exports to the neighboring country.
Latifi said that Iran exported some 4.187 million tons of goods worth $1.839 billion to Afghanistan in the one-year period which showed a 40% decrease in terms of weight and a 20% fall in value terms compared to figures from the preceding year.
He noted that decreased Iranian exports to Afghanistan was natural as the country underwent a special political change last year.
“The first point is that we witnessed crises in the country near the Iranian border…and the other point was that many projects being implemented by state or international funds were even stopped or changed,” Latifi said.
He added that instability and doubts about the political future of Afghanistan caused a reduction in construction projects in Afghanistan and a subsequent fall in the exports of construction materials to the country.