Economy of Turkmenistan

Development of per capita GDP in Central Asian countries.

Turkmenistan is a country covered mainly by desert, with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases, and with large reserves of oil and natural gas. Half of the irrigated land is cultivated with cotton. The country once became the tenth largest cotton producer in the world, but poor harvests in recent years led to a 50% decline in production.

Although Turkmenistan was one of the countries in the Euro-Asian zone of the former USSR that suffered least from the economic consequences of the disintegration, the difficult relations with the former Soviet republics led to the non-payment of part of the debt contracted with this country and the boycott of its exports, especially by Ukraine. This process was not clearly surpassed by the economic transformation with the transition from a communist system to a capitalist one, since the State maintains to date a policy of few privatizations and mining and industrial technology that is very backward.

With an authoritarian ex-communist government in power and a tribal social structure, Turkmenistan is making a slow approach to economic reforms and seeks to use export revenues from natural gas and cotton to maintain its inefficient economy. The privatization goals are still timid.

Between 1998 and 2005 Turkmenistan suffered from the lack of adequate natural gas export channels and short-term debt obligations. However, exports began to grow by almost 15% a year between 2003 and 2008 mainly due to the rise in international oil and gas prices. New gas pipelines to the People's Republic of China and Iran, which began operating in late 2009 and early 2010, provided the country with new export routes, despite the fact that these new routes do not fully offset the drop in gas exports to Russia 2009.

The general prospects in the short term are bleak due to significant and widespread poverty, endemic corruption, a precarious, poor-quality education system with few resources, misuse by the government of wealth generated by oil and gas, and Ashgabat's opposition to adopting market-oriented reforms. In the past, Turkmenistan's economic statistics were secret. The new government established a state agency for statistics, but certain economic indicators, such as gross domestic product and other indices, are still subject to large margins of error.

Foreign trade

In 2017, the country was the 101st largest exporter in the world (US$7.3 billion). In terms of imports, in 2019 it was the 150th largest importer in the world: US$2.6 billion.

Primary sector

Agriculture

In 2019, Turkmenistan produced:

• 1.5 million tons of wheat;
• 582 thousand tons of cotton;
• 356 thousand tons of tomato;
• 315 thousand tons of potato;
• 263 thousand tons of watermelon;
• 246 thousand tons of grapes;
• 245 thousand tons of sugar beet, which is used to produce sugar and ethanol;
• 130 thousand tons of rice;
• 74 thousand tons of onion;
• 71 thousand tons of carrot;
• 66 thousand tons of apple;
• 34 thousand tons of apricot;

In addition to other productions of other agricultural products.

The economic base of the country is represented by agriculture, highly developed thanks to the complex irrigation system established by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s and which takes advantage of the groundwater located in the center and south of the country. Added to this is a benevolent climate in some areas, with Mediterranean characteristics, which allows for high-quality cotton, fruit and vegetable crops. In the cultivation of cereals, wheat, millet and rice stand out. In recent years, table grape and olive crops have been extended to replace cotton, which contribute more resources to agricultural income.

Sericiculture (silk), fishing and camel farming especially stand out.

Livestock

In 2019, Turkmenistan produced 1.7 billion liters of cow's milk, 146 thousand tons of beef, 128 thousand tons of lamb, 20 thousand tons of chicken meat, among others.

Secondary sector

Industry

The World Bank lists the top producing countries each year, based on the total value of production. According to the 2004 list, Turkmenistan had the 126th most valuable industry in the world ($1.3 billion).

In 2018, the country was the twelfth largest producer of wool and cottonseed oil in the world.

The industry has a low specific weight in the total economic activity, and only accounts for 20% of the national GDP. Most of it is concentrated in the heavy petrochemical industry. Other notable activities are footwear, textiles and manufactured agricultural products.

Mining

In 2019, the country was the third largest producer of iodine in the world.

Mining represents an important economic sector as it has oil and natural gas exploitations. It is the third country with the largest gas reserves in the world. Part of them are in operation and represent 60% of the country's total exports, but it has abundant reserves pending the construction of pipelines that connect the country with Afghanistan, Russia and a direct outlet to the Chinese market. Other mining activities of interest are coal and copper.

Energy

In non-renewable energy, in 2020, the country was the 35th world producer of oil, with a production of 184,500 barrels / day. In 2011, the country consumed 145 thousand barrels / day (66th largest consumer in the world) In 2012, the country was the 45th largest oil exporter in the world (67 thousand barrels/day). In 2015, Turkmenistan was the 10th largest producer of natural gas, 83.7 billion m³ per year. In 2019, the country was the 32nd largest gas consumer, 31.5 billion m³ per year, and in 2015 it was the world's 8th largest gas exporter, 40.3 billion m³ per year.

In renewable energy, in 2020, Turkmenistan had neither wind power nor solar power.

BASIC ECONOMIC DATA

• GDP - Gross Domestic Product (2002): 7400 million US dollars.
• GDP - Per capita: $1,587 US.
• Average annual inflation: 10.6%.
• External debt approx.: ----
• Imports$2.6 billion U.S.
• Exports$4 billion.

GDP structure in 2002:

Distribution by economic sectors of total GDP:

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: 26%.

Industry: 32%.

Manufacturing and mining industries: 31%.

Services and construction: 42%.

• Unemployment rate-...
• Main client countries: Ukraine, Italy and Iran.
• Major supplier countries: Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.