Surveys & Studies

Major findings

• The lack of proper infrastructure is a cross-sectoral and countrywide problem, and 71.7% of all surveyed businesses say they have infrastructural problems. 82% of them say that the lack of access to electricity is their utmost limiting infrastructural problem.
• Business perception has slightly improved regarding the security condition in Kabul, Balkh, Herat, and Nangarhar regions compared to last year.
• In total, surveyed businesses' perceptions regarding the public tendering conditions have improved compared to last year; but still the majority of surveyed companies say they have problems in access to public tenders, mainly because of “unclear and arbitrary procedures” and "political interferences".
• Complaints regarding the tax system has increased compared to last year and about 63% of the surveyed businesses say they have problems in paying their taxes, mainly because "taxes are too sophisticated and therefore not transparent”.
• Custom conditions, especially in Herat and Balkh are reported very poor and businesses say that tariffs are “too sophisticated and non-transparent”.
• Despite the challenges faced by women in businesses, the Business Bottleneck Survey shows a considerable support for women operating in the private sector.

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Major findings

• Businesses report a better condition compared to previous survey, but the level of their optimism regarding the coming six months has declined, which we assume is caused by seasonal effects.
• Regional differences have decreased this time, with Balkh showing a sharp improvement and Nangarhar a considerable decline.
• Businesses have reported a significant improvement in their order books compared to previous survey, but the overall balance of the surveyed companies' order books is negative.
• Security, market demand and the need for administrative reforms are three major desired improvements for business developments.
• In all four surveyed sectors, companies employ fewer people compared to the previous survey.

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Major findings

• Companies partially resume their optimism regarding the outlook of their businesses.
• Regional differences are high, with Balkh on negative and Nangarhar on positive ends.
• Companies keep reporting very poor condition for their order books.
• An overview of Kabul order books indicators reveals that since 2012 the order books situation is continually deteriorated.
• Security, market demand and the need for administrative reforms are three major desired improvements for business developments.
• In all four surveyed sectors, companies employ fewer people compared to the previous survey.

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Major findings

• Companies partially resume their optimism regarding the outlook of their businesses.
• Despite a little improvement compared to last survey, except Balkh none of the provinces have a positive business climate indicator.
• The order books are in a very poor condition, however a little improvement is seen in this survey compared to last survey.
• While the security condition has reportedly improved in four regions (Kandahar, Herat, Kabul and Nangarhar), Kandahar is the only region that has recorded a positive security indicator in this survey.
• The call for administrative reforms has gradually increased in recent surveys.

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The objective of the assignment is to develop a two tier – national and regional level policy advocacy strategy for dealing with NTMs, and to promote interregional trade in the SAARC region. The prepared strategy will serve as a blueprint or model for policy advocacy at the national level and also as a reference material for organizations and institutions working for trade promotion in the region. However, the relevant stakeholders will have the liberty to customize the proposed strategy.

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For ACCI Research Unit the 2015 was a milestone when after four years of efforts the unit succeeded to complete its mission in establishing a fully functional survey system based on international best practices.

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Major Findings:

• The business condition has extremely deteriorated during last three months.
• Balkh and Nangarhar enjoys comparatively better business condition compared to Herat, Kabul and Kandahar.
• Manufacturing remains confident while construction, trade and services have extremely suffered during the last three months.
• Majority of the surveyed companies say they hire fewer people than three months ago.
• Security condition has deteriorated across the regions.
• Increasingly more people ask for administrative reform.

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This survey reveals that that business community has lost the enthusiasm that they expressed in last November, a month after the establishment of the National Unity government. Herat and Kabul show the least favorable conditions, while Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar are comparatively more confident regarding the six coming months. The  comparison  of  three latest  surveys  shows  that  the  real  business  condition  has  largely worsened after the last presidential elections.

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According to the ACCI Business Monitor Report published today, businesses still continue to suffer from a poor business condition, but meanwhile they are very optimistic about the coming six months. Compared to the earlier season when businesses experienced an unprecedented decline amid the electoral confusion and subsequent political uncertainties, the business climate slightly improved in autumn (September, October and November 2014).

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This survey reveals that the business climate in general has deteriorated during last three months, but SMEs have suffered more from the volatile and unstable business condition which means they are more vulnerable to changes in business climate caused by politics, security and climate factors.

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