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):

$26.73 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$26.91 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

11.6% (IMF estimate)
note: official government statistics are widely regarded as unreliable (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$5,200 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 11.5%
industry: 40.8%
services: 47.7% (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.)

Population below poverty line:

30% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

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

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

40.8 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

6.4% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):

31.6% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $1.664 billion
expenditures: $1.624 billion (2007 est.)

Agriculture - products:

cotton, grain; livestock

Industries:

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

Industrial production growth rate:

10.3% (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)

Electricity - imports:

0 kWh (2005)

Oil - production:

196,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption:

156,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - exports:

40,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - imports:

0 bbl/day (2007)

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 (2007)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

2.86 trillion cu m (1 January 2007 est.)

Current account balance:

$4.525 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:

$7.567 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, textiles, cotton fiber

Exports - partners:

Ukraine 47.7%, Iran 17.2%, Azerbaijan 5.3%, Turkey 4.6% (2006)

Imports:

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

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs

Imports - partners:

UAE 14.7%, Turkey 10.5%, China 9.8%, Ukraine 8.9%, Russia 8.3%, Iran 7.2%, Germany 6.7%, US 5.7% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:

$28.25 million from the US (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$5.173 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

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

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$NA

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