The Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan (Dari: وزارت مالیه افغانستان, Pashto: د افغانستان د مالیې وزارت) is responsible for the implementation and execution of the budget, collection of taxes, organization, and control of public expenses in Afghanistan; it also controls the management of the Custom Affairs. The Ministry of Finance provides a quarterly report to inform the public and the executive cabinet of advancements in Afghanistan's financial sector.[3] The current Finance Minister is Nasir Akhund.[1]
During the reign of Ahmad Shah Baba, when greater importance was given to financial matters, the foundation of a branch called Humayun Aala (present-day Ministry of Finance) was first laid in 1140 AD along with other affairs and structures of the state and its affairs were carried out with the permission of Sardar Abdullah Khan Popalzi who was the first finance minister. At that time he was also given the name Dewan Begi. Over time, the title of Dewan Begi was changed to Mustafi Al Malik and his name was the same as that of the current Ministry of Finance. Mustafi al-Malik used his power to coordinate and supervise everyone's financial and accounting affairs of all provinces.
Under king Habibullah Khan the tax base was small and the majority of Afghans did not accept the system in place. After achieving independence and reform of administrative military organization, the new Ministry of Finance was established. “Later, in 1965 the financial systems were developed and officially introduced in Afghanistan.” [4] According to the requirements and needs of Afghan financial system the ministry of Finance has following structure: Ministry, Deputy Administrative, Financial Deputy, Deputy Revenue and Customs, and Deputy Policy.[4] The Ministry of Finance has 12 departments and each department has certain responsibilities to lead and manage.
Responsibilities
International donors financially support the main portion of the Afghan governmental budget. As the Ministry of Finance is responsible for public finance and budget expenses throughout the country, it encourages international donors to provide direct budget aid in order to strengthen the position and credibility of the Ministry of Finance. According to the Afghanistan National Development Strategy the target sectors in 1390 (2011) were the security sector, the education sector and the governance sector.[5] The goal of the strategy is reduce poverty, accelerate economic growth and improve security and governance.[6] In 1391 (2012), budget AFS 18,838 million was allocated to security sector, for Education sector 5.533 million and for governance sector 2,531 million were allocated.[6]
The total development budget for fiscal year 1390 (2011) was Afs 74 billion - which is equal to US$1.4 billion - and it increased to Afs 101.2 billion equal to US$1.9 billion in 1391 [6] Whereas in 1391 the total development grants reached to 14.2 billion which increased by 49.5 percent throughout the year.[4] The Ministry of Finance tries to adjust its financial systems and financial activities according to international rules and regulations. In order to accomplish these targets, the Ministry of Finance created new units, which include staff enrollment parts, policy design, and budget execution. The main goal of Ministry of Finance is control the financial affairs of the country in order to have an economically more powerful country and make sure that public wealth is improved.[4]
Afghanistan Customs Department, also called the General Directorate of Customs is the revenue service of the Ministry of Finance. Customs Department is responsible for collecting taxes and prevention of smuggling.
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