Flag description:
green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side,
containing five tribal guls (designs used in producing carpets)
stacked above two crossed olive branches similar to the olive
branches on the UN flag; a white crescent moon representing Islam
with five white stars representing the regions or velayats of
Turkmenistan appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly
side of the red stripe
Economy Turkmenistan
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
tenth-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. In 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 20%
to 30% per year in 2003-2005, largely because of higher
international oil and gas prices. In 2005, Ashgabat sought to raise
natural gas export prices to its main customers, Russia and Ukraine,
from $44 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $66 per tcm. Overall
prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread
internal poverty, the burden of foreign debt, the government's
irrational use of oil and gas revenues, and its 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.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$39.14 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$13.99 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: IMF estimate: 6% note: official government statistics show 21.4% growth, but these estimates are widely regarded as unreliable (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $7,900 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 20.9% industry: 38% services: 41.1% (2005 est.)
Labor force: 2.32 million (2003 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 48.2% industry: 13.8% services: 37% (2003 est.)