Afghanistan: Economic Reforms in Fragile States

Conducting business in fragile states can be a difficult challenge for corporations, governments, and other stakeholders alike. According to the Doing Business Indicators report by the World Bank, Afghanistan has historically been ranked near the bottom of the list. Based on economic reforms implemented by the government of Afghanistan, the country has seen significant positive improvement in this year’s Doing Business Indicators rankings. Specifically, Ajmal Ahmady, Senior Advisor to the President of Afghanistan on Banking and Finance, identified the challenges of doing business in Afghanistan and began working on economic reforms to improve the business environment. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Nawal Qutub, student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, interviews Ajmal Ahmady, who provides further insight on the reforms he implemented with regard to doing business in Afghanistan. // www.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on November 9, 2018. About Ajmal Ahmady: Ajmal Ahmady is Senior Advisor to the President of Afghanistan on Banking and Finance. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master of Economics and Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Bachelors in Mathematics and Economics from UCLA. He previously spent eight years in the asset management industry investing in global macro, emerging markets, and corporate strategies for some of the largest asset managers in the world. He has also worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, the World Bank, an EM private equity group, the US Treasury Department and the Afghan Ministry of Finance.