Economy Turkmenistan
Economy - overview:
Turkmenistan is 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, making it at one time the
world's tenth-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years have
led to a nearly 46% 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. In 1998-2003,
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 38%
in 2003, largely because of higher international oil and gas prices.
Overall prospects in the near future are discouraging because of
widespread internal poverty, the burden of foreign debt, and the
unwillingness of the government to adopt market-oriented reforms.
However, Turkmenistan's cooperation with the international community
in transporting humanitarian aid to Afghanistan may foreshadow a
change in the atmosphere for foreign investment, aid, and
technological support. Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state
secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of
error. In particular, the 20% rate of GDP growth is a guess.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $27.88 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
23.1% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,800 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 24.8% industry: 46.2% services: 28.9% (2003 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
19.5% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line:
34.4% (2001 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)