Turkmenistan Economy Profile 2008

Economy - overview

Turkmenistan is a largely desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases and large gas and oil resources. One-half of its irrigated land is planted in cotton; formerly it was the world's 10th-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years have led to an almost 50% decline in cotton exports. With an authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based social structure, Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform, hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its inefficient economy. Privatization goals remain limited. From 1998-2005, Turkmenistan suffered from the continued lack of adequate export routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive short-term external debt. At the same time, however, total exports rose by an average of roughly 15% per year from 2003-07, largely because of higher international oil and gas prices. Overall prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty, a poor educational system, government misuse of oil and gas revenues, and Ashgabat's reluctance to adopt market-oriented reforms. In the past, Turkmenistan's economic statistics were state secrets. The new government has established a State Agency for Statistics, but GDP numbers and other figures are subject to wide margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP growth is uncertain. Since his election, President BERDIMUHAMEDOW has sought to improve the health and education systems, ordered unification of the country's dual currency exchange rate, begun decreasing state subsidies for gasoline, signed an agreement to build a gas line to China, and created a special tourism zone on the Caspian Sea. All of these moves hint that the new post-NYYAZOW government will work to create a friendlier foreign investment environment.

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$47.37 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate)

$26.22 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

7% (IMF estimate)
note: official government statistics are widely regarded as unreliable (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$9,200 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 16.7%
industry: 39.2%
services: 44.2% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line

30% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 31.7% (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

11.3% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed)

21.2% of GDP (2007 est.)

Labor force

2.089 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 48.2%
industry: 14%
services: 37.8% (2004 est.)

Unemployment rate

60% (2004 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index

40.8 (1998)

Budget

revenues: $1.641 billion
expenditures: $1.6 billion (2007 est.)

Industries

natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing

Industrial production growth rate

7% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production

12.05 billion kWh (2005 est.)

Electricity - consumption

7.602 billion kWh (2005 est.)

Electricity - exports

2.918 billion kWh (2005 est.)

Electricity - imports

0 kWh (2005)

Oil - production

196,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption

156,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - imports

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - exports

40,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - proved reserves

500 million bbl (1 January 2007 est.)

Natural gas - production

72.3 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption

14.4 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports

58 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports

0 cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves

2.86 trillion cu m (1 January 2007 est.)

Current Account Balance

$4.3 billion (2007 est.)

Agriculture - products

cotton, grain; livestock

Exports

$8.5 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities

gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, textiles, cotton fiber

Exports - partners

Ukraine 47.7%, Iran 16.4%, Azerbaijan 5.3% (2006)

Imports

$4.2 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities

machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs

Imports - partners

UAE 15.5%, Turkey 11.1%, Ukraine 9.1%, Russia 9%, Germany 7.8%, Iran 7.6%, China 6.4%, US 4.5% (2006)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$3.644 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external

$1.4 billion to $5 billion (2004 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares

$NA

Economic aid - recipient

$28.25 million from the US (2005)

Currency (code)

Turkmen manat (TMM)

Exchange rates

Turkmen manat per US$ - 6,250 (2007) official rate
note: the commercial rate was 19,800 Turkemen manat per US$ (2007)

Fiscal year

calendar year