KABUL - Afghanistan’s acting finance minister said on Sunday that up to 40 percent of the country’s customs revenue is being embezzled, adding this prevents the country from becoming self-sufficient.
Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, the acting minister, said while handing over the draft budget for the next fiscal year that Afghanistan will be self-reliant if revenue generated through customs taxes is regulated.
“Unfortunately up to 40 percent of the country’s revenue is being embezzled. We are trying to prevent corruption by installing scanners,” said Arghandiwal.
Some members of the Meshrano Jirga, (Upper House of Parliament) said government is not willing to implement their commitments and is not focused on big projects.
“The commitments that government make are not implemented yet, they are lying. Development projects are not being implemented,” said Gul Ahmad Azami, a senator.
On the other hand, Hadi Muslimyar, leader of the Meshrano Jirga, said they will complete their review of the draft soon in the near future.
“We will complete our review about the draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year before taking a decision about the budget in parliament,” said Muslimyar.
This comes after Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) said earlier that between 50 percent and 70 percent of state revenue is being embezzled because of wide-spread corruption in the Afghan government. (ATN)