The World Bank is granting $22 million from its International Development Association to revitalize and strengthen Afghanistan’s private sector development, which has been stunted because of nearly three decades of conflict in the Asian country.
The Afghanistan New Market Development Project will pilot a business development program in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad and Herat - the country’s four major economic hubs.
Afghanistan’s private sector comprises small and medium-sized enterprises in the agro-processing of fruits and nuts, as well as businesses that produce textiles, handicrafts and woven carpets.
“Afghans have traditionally been a very entrepreneurial people who have long traded their goods with countries of the region and the world,” said World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan Nicholas Krafft in a press release. “The project aims to revive and further develop these once-vibrant private enterprises that are critical for providing jobs for the people and boosting the country’s economic growth.”
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