Kabul June 28 2022: According to the leadership decision of the Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan, the export price of each coal in the country’s customs increased from US dollars 90 per ton to US dollars 200 per ton due to the increase in coal prices in world markets.
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif approved the import of super-critical quality coal from Afghanistan in Pakistani rupee instead of dollars to help generate low-cost electricity in the country. Cement sector in Pakistan was major importer of Afghan coal due to higher international coal prices.
According to the Afghan Customs Law and pricing procedure, led by the Ministry the purpose of increase the price of stone coal is to increase the amount of tax and after today it can be applied in all customs of the country.
It is noteworthy government collects 30 percent of customs duty on coal exports.
The Afghan Taliban are stepping up coal exports to Pakistan and have raised duties on sales, officials said, as the group aims to generate more revenue from its mining sector in the absence of direct foreign funding.
The move comes with global coal prices near record highs after top exporter Indonesia imposed a shock ban on exports earlier in 2022 and then Russia invaded Ukraine, pushing prices up further.
No country has officially recognised the Taliban government, which has meant international financial assistance has dried up even as the country faces a humanitarian and economic crisis.
The hardline Islamist movement is now banking on its natural resources to survive. Landlocked Afghanistan has large mineral and fossil fuel deposits, most of them untapped.
“Coal exports have increased because we have paved the way for traders,” said finance ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal.
The Taliban announced their first annual budget earlier last month, saying they would depend solely on local revenue – a big task for a country dependent on foreign assistance for the last two decades.
