Dr. Rohantha Athukorala addresses Afghan delegation

A delegation from Afghanistan representing the country’s Finance Ministry, which was in Sri Lanka to meet several local stakeholders of the Sri Lankan economy, was briefed by top professional Dr. Rohantha Athukorala last week. 

Athukorala advised the group to pick up lessons from Sri Lanka to help the Afghan economy record 4-5% GDP growth. 

While congratulating the Finance Ministry of Afghanistan for increasing non-tax revenue collection to 30% of the total revenue, with Sri Lanka registering only 7%, Dr. Athukorala highlighted that Sri Lanka would be unique in the near future with trade access to over three billion people with trade agreements with China, India, Pakistan, the US and the European Union, which is a feat no other country could boast of and one which countries like Afghanistan should take advantage of, he said. 

Dr. Athukorala acknowledged that the World Bank’s projections for 2017 were also not very encouraging with Afghanistan’s growth rate set to marginally increase by 1.8% in 2017 and to 3-3.6% in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which is a far cry from the average growth rate of 9.4% sustained between 2003 and 2012, when Afghanistan’s economy was mainly driven by international troops and heavy investment in infrastructure, but he told the delegation to use the Sri Lankan trade access model to develop the country such as the $ 1 billion BPO/IT sector where exports could be routed online. 

More broadly, Dr. Athukorala, the former head of the National Council for Economic Development Afghanistan, highlighted Afghanistan’s significant achievements last year in terms of regional integration, economic cooperation and infrastructure development. 

Furthermore, he cited the signing of the Chabahar Port Agreement between Afghanistan, Iran and India. The arrival of the first freight train in Afghanistan’s Hairatan Port from China via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in November and the inauguration of the Turkmen part of trilateral railway in Turkmenistan, which connected Afghanistan to an international railway network, were other significant steps in the right direction but he urged the delegation to link the Afghanistan economy to Sri Lanka so that real benefits could be harnessed.