| 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 15% per year from 2003-06, largely because of higher international oil and gas prices. In 2006, Ashgabat raised its natural gas export prices to its main customer, Russia, from $66 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $100 per tcm. 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 unwillingness to adopt market-oriented reforms. Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP growth is uncertain. President BERDYMUKHAMMEDOV's election platform included plans to build a gas line to China, to complete the AmuDarya railroad bridge in Lebap province, and to create special border trade zones in southern Balkan province - a hint that the new post-NIYAZOV government will work to create a friendlier foreign investment environment. |
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| GDP | 3.4% (2005 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | IMF estimate: 6%
note: official government statistics show 21.4% growth, but these estimates are widely regarded as unreliable (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 24.4%
industry: 33.9%
services: 41.7% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 58% (2003 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 31.7% (1998) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 40.8 (1998) |
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| Labor force | 2.32 million (2003 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 48.2%
industry: 13.8%
services: 37% (2003 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 60% (2004 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $1.803 billion
expenditures: $2.063 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 22% (2003 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 10.79 billion kWh (2004 est.) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 99.9%
hydro: 0.1%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 9.03 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
exports | 1 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 0 kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 213,700 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 95,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | 170,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 546 million bbl (2005 est.) |
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| Agriculture - products | cotton, grain; livestock |
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| Exports | $5.421 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, cotton fiber, textiles |
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| Exports - partners | Ukraine 42.8%, Iran 14.8%, Hungary 5.3% (2005) |
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| Imports | $3.936 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs |
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| Imports - partners | UAE 12.7%, Azerbaijan 11.1%, US 9.6%, Russia 9.1%, Ukraine 7.6%, Turkey 7.3%, Iran 6.2%, Germany 5.4% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $2.4 billion to $5 billion (2001 est.) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $16 million from the US (2001) |
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| Currency code | TMM |
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| Exchange rates | Turkmen manat per US$ - 11,100 (2006) official rate
note: in recent years the unofficial rate has hovered around 24,000 to 25,000 Turkmen manats to the dollar |
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| Fiscal year | calendar year |
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