2014年-世界发展银行全球_Enterprise_Surveys___Afghanistan_Country_Profile_2014_15页_799kb

Afghanistan Country Profile 2014 Summary

Core Content

The Afghanistan Country Profile 2014 is part of the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys, which evaluate the business environment across various sectors and firm sizes. The surveys cover key areas such as infrastructure, trade, regulations, taxes, business licensing, corruption, crime, and informality, as well as finance and workforce characteristics. These surveys are conducted on a representative sample of firms in the non-agricultural formal private economy and provide insights into how these factors influence firm productivity and performance.

Main Topics and Key Indicators

Business Environment Obstacles

• Top Constraints: The surveys identify the main challenges faced by firms in Afghanistan, benchmarked against South Asia and the low-income group.
• Graphs: The first graph shows the top 10 constraints, while the second breaks down the top 3 by firm size.
• Challenges: These include inefficiencies in regulations, high corruption levels, and bureaucratic delays.

Average Firm

• Firm Age: The average firm in Afghanistan is 9.5 years old, with variations by firm size.
• Female Participation: Only 4.7% of firms have female top managers, and 2.2% have female participation in ownership.
• Ownership Structure: Sole proprietorships dominate, accounting for 68.4% of firms, with no foreign or government ownership.

Infrastructure

• Electricity: Firms face 11.5 power outages per month, with 5.1% of sales lost due to these outages.
• Water Supply: 11.3 water shortages occur per month, averaging 25.2 hours of shortage per incident.
• Service Delays: Delays in obtaining electrical connections are 111.3 days, while water connection delays are 100.4 days.

Trade

• Export Activity: 6.7% of firms are exporters, with a higher proportion of manufacturing firms using foreign inputs (71.0%).
• Customs Delays: The average time to clear imports is 10.6 days, and exports is 8.1 days.
• Transport Losses: No losses were reported during direct exports due to theft or spoilage, but losses are noted in other regions.

Regulations, Taxes, and Business Licensing

• Corruption: A significant portion of firms (35.0%) report experiencing graft, with 46.9% expecting to give gifts to secure government contracts.
• Bribery Expectations: 60.4% of firms expect to give gifts for construction permits, and 23.4% for import licenses.
• Permit Times: It takes 139.6 days to obtain construction-related permits, which is much higher than the South Asian and low-income averages.
• Legal Forms: Sole proprietorships are most common (68.4%), while open shareholding companies are rare (0.4%).

Corruption

• Graft Index: 35.0% of firms in Afghanistan are expected to pay bribes for public services.
• Gift Payments: 34.0% of firms give gifts during meetings with tax inspectors, and 46.9% for government contracts.
• Informal Payments: 60.4% of firms expect to make informal payments for construction permits.

Crime and Informality

• Court Perception: Only 37.1% of firms believe the court system is fair.
• Security Costs: These account for 1.2% of sales, with higher losses due to theft, robbery, etc., for larger firms.
• Informality: 7.7% of firms started operations without formal registration, indicating a significant informal sector.

Finance

• Internal Finance: 84.5% of firms use internal funds for investment, showing limited access to external financing.
• Bank Loans: Only 5.1% of firms have bank loans or lines of credit.
• Collateral Requirements: A high 102.6% of the loan amount is required as collateral, which is more than the regional average.
• Bank Accounts: 43.7% of firms have checking or savings accounts, with higher rates among larger firms.

Innovation and Workforce

• Quality Certification: 22.1% of firms have internationally recognized quality certifications.
• External Auditing: 13.0% of firms have their financial statements reviewed by external auditors.
• Website Usage: 21.8% of firms use their own websites, with higher usage among larger firms.
• Email Usage: 64.9% of firms use email for communication with clients/suppliers.
• Workforce Composition: Larger firms employ more permanent workers (21.6), while smaller firms have more temporary workers (7.2).
• Female Employment: 22.1% of firms have full-time female workers, with higher rates in small firms (34.2%).

Key Information

• Income Group: Afghanistan is classified as a low-income country.
• Population: Approximately 29.8 million.
• GNI per Capita: US$622.
• Region: South Asia.
• Survey Methodology: Stratified by industry, firm size, and geographic region.
• Benchmarking: Data is compared with regional and income group averages.
• Data Sources: All indicators are based on firm responses.

Summary of Key Indicators

Notes

• Sampling: Stratified by industry, firm size, and region.
• Benchmarking: Regional and income group indicators are averages of country-level data.
• Data Availability: Some indicators are only available for the manufacturing sector.
• Graft Index: Measures the proportion of times firms are expected to pay bribes for public services.
• Copyright: The report is a co-publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, and is protected by copyright.