Washington, D.C., June 22, 2009—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $65 million loan and $10 million in equity to MTN Afghanistan to support the expansion of the company’s mobile telephone network and meet the country’s growing demand for affordable mobile phone services.

MTN Afghanistan is owned by MTN Dubai Ltd, part of the South Africa-based MTN Group Ltd, a long time IFC partner. It is the second-largest mobile telephone operator in Afghanistan with more than 2.5 million subscribers. The expansion is aimed in particular at low-income populations.

“MTN Group places high importance on its operation in Afghanistan,” said James Ramadan, MTN Group’s Regional Vice President for Middle East and North Africa. “We have invested significantly in MTN Afghanistan and will continue to do so in the future. IFC is providing long-term funding, which is a great vote of confidence for this frontier market. It will enable us to serve the people of Afghanistan by enhancing network coverage and expanding high-quality services to a greater number of customers.”

Moshen Khalil, IFC Director for Global Information and Communication Technologies, said, “Mobile telecommunications enable access to knowledge and services, innovation across sectors, and more efficiency in the delivery of government and business services. We hope that our investment will encourage other investors to support to support the telecommunications sector, and more broadly, economic development and growth in Afghanistan.”

Insight Consulting(IC) is an Afghan owned company which has positioned itself in Afghanistan as an end-to-end services and consulting company, specializing in fields such as private and public sector consulting, marketing and business development. We have successfully serviced both the private and public sectors in Afghanistan.
IC is the first Afghan incorporated company blending Afghan know-how [...]

BRAC Afghanistan Bank (BAB), is a Local Commercial Bank licensed by DAB (Da Afghanistan Bank) Central Bank of Afghanistan with institutional shareholding of BRAC, International Finance Cooperation (IFC), Shorecap International and Triodos Bank of Netherlands.
BRAC Afghanistan Bank has been operating in Afghanistan since November 2006, enabling opportunity to a good number of businesses in Kabul, [...]

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) today agreed to set up Asia’s first major multi-country Islamic infrastructure fund.
The Islamic Infrastructure Fund, targeted at $500 million, will make Shari’ah-compliant equity investments in the 12 countries that are borrowing members of both development banks; currently Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz [...]

Azizi Bank is one of the leading banks in the region and looking for a strong strategic and well-experienced individual for a start up Islamic banking. The responsibilities include starting Islamic Banking in the Bank, developing policies, procedures, products etc and managing Islamic Banking functions such as managing day-to-day operations of Islamic Banking venture, developing [...]

According to Tolo TV Namzad, is more than just a reality TV show, Namzad wants to give Afghan’s
insight in to what it REALLY takes to be a political leader. Namzad
follows six young adults as they compete to develop the policies, campaigns
and support needed to be chosen as the nation’s top youth presidential
candidate. [...]

For the first time in decades, Kabul is receiving a steady supply of electricity thanks to a major new transmission line linking Afghanistan’s capital with neighboring Uzbekistan.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is one of the largest partners in constructing a 420-kilometer transmission corridor carrying electricity across some of the most challenging mountainous terrain on earth. [...]

Kabul is now among the first cities with a proper WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) Installation.
The Silk Highway project, initiated by NATO, brings to bring high speed Internet to Afghanistan and turned Kabul into a high-speed city.
Silk Highway Project is a high-tech version of the Great Silk Road trading route that links Asia [...]

Despite the international economic criss Afghan Economy is estimated to grow 3.4% in 2008/09. but many problems remain, accondding to World Bank estimations.
Almost 85 percent of the population now has access to primary health care. According to an independent survey, the quality of care has improved and the number of patients served has more than [...]

The Government of Afghanistan and the World Bank, on behalf of the 30 donors of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), today signed two grant agreements worth US$44 million to expand the ongoing Education Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP) and to establish the National Institute of Management and Administration (NIMA). The agreement was signed by HE [...]