Afghanistan's Economy Sees Mixed Market Trends Amid Supply Constraints
The Afghan economy is experiencing mixed market trends, with some food and agricultural input prices declining while others are increasing. According to the latest weekly market report from August 2026, commodity availability remains broadly sufficient, but transportation and import costs are still under pressure due to elevated diesel prices and supply constraints.
Food items like wheat, rice, and cooking oil saw small declines in price during the third week of August, while vegetables experienced mixed movements. Tomato prices fell by 6%, but potato and onion prices increased by 3.7% and 5.2%, respectively. Rice prices, however, moved slightly upward with high-price Palawi and low-price Sholae rice increasing by 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
The exchange rate saw a slight appreciation of the Afghani against the US dollar, strengthening to AFN 65.2/USD, which is 5% stronger than last year and 13% above the three-year average. Diesel prices edged up by 0.8% during the week to AFN 77.0 per litre, while fertilizer prices eased with DAP declining by 0.5% and urea by 2.2%. The price of a 1-year-old live female sheep increased by 0.6% week-on-week.