Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook (SEO) was launched on April 20, 2023, in Kabul. A new study of Afghanistan’s economy demonstrates that without continuity for girls’ education and women’s ability to work, prospects for the country’s recovery will remain grim. The study, “Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook 2023”, details how Afghanistan’s economic output collapsed by 20.7 per cent following the Taliban takeover in 2021.

International Media  

1. UN News: The draconian restrictions on women’s ability to study and work have contributed to the calamitous socio-economic situation in Afghanistan, with devastating consequences for the population, according to a UN report released on Tuesday.
2. UNDP Press release: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns that restrictions on women’s rights will worsen the economic catastrophe in Afghanistan. The new UNDP paper analyzes the potential impact of a hypothetical aid cut on Afghanistan’s economy. Using an indicative value of a 30 per cent reduction in aid from $3.7 billion to $2.6 billion, UNDP projects that Afghanistan’s GDP would further contract by 0.4 per cent, a decline that would send the country hurtling to the bottom of the global poverty scale. 
3. Associated Press: The UN says leaving Afghanistan would be ‘heartbreaking’. “This is a very fundamental moment that we’re approaching. And obviously, our hope and expectation is that there will be some commonsense prevailing,” Steiner said. 
4. Reuters: The UNDP analyzed the impact of a 30% drop in aid and found gross domestic product for the already struggling economy would shrink by 0.4% this year.
5. Bloomberg: Afghan Economy on Verge of Collapse If Aid Drops, UN Warns. “The economy and the society are on the verge of collapse,” UNDP’s representative in Afghanistan Abdallah Al Dardari said in an interview before the release of the report. “Any shock or drop in international aid today will push a large number of Afghans to an ever-worse destiny than what they are facing today.”
6. BBC News: Afghan economic hopes threatened by Taliban – UN. Weak signs of recovery in Afghanistan's economy are at risk of being undone by Taliban restrictions on women working for NGOs, the UN says.

Local media in English language  

1. Kabul Now: Afghanistan’s economic outlook ‘very difficult’ amid Taliban’s restrictions on women. Afghanistan’s economy is in crisis, and women and girls are being hit the hardest, according to a newly published report by the UNDP.
2. Amu TV: A new study of Afghanistan’s economy demonstrates that without continuity for girls’ education and women’s ability to work, prospects for the country’s recovery will remain grim. The study, “Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook 2023”, released on Tuesday in Kabul by the UNDP, details how Afghanistan’s economic output collapsed by 20.7 percent following the Taliban takeover in 2021. This unparalleled shock has kept Afghanistan among the poorest countries in the world.
3. Pajhwok News Agency: The UNDP says prospects for the recovery of Afghanistan’s economy will remain grim if restrictions on women’s work are not lifted. In a new study –Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook 2023 — released in Kabul, UNDP said the country’s economy would have collapsed if the international community had not continued with assistance since August 2021.
4. Tolonews: The UNDP released a report on Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook 2023. The report reads that when coupled with a population increase of more than 2 percent, the average real per capita income of ordinary Afghans by the end of 2022 was estimated to have declined by 28 percent from the 2020 level.
5. Salam Watandar:  The UNDP in a report on the economic and social situation of Afghanistan in the year 2023 has said that the poverty level in this country has doubled and the number of needy Afghans has reached 34 million.

National Media in English Local Language  

1. Arezo Farsi:   
2. BBC Farsi Radio: 
3. BBC Farsi Online: 
4. Ariana News Farsi: 
5. Pajhwok News Agency English: 
6. Pajhwok News Agency Exclusive Interview Pastho