World Business | Asia | Asia Business | Turkmenistan Business Resources

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; formerly it was 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 1998-2004, 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 perhaps 30% in 2003 and 19% in 2004, 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, 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.

Agriculture
cotton, grain; livestock

Airlines
Airlines in Asia
Airlines Worldwide

Airports
Airports in Asia
Airports Worldwide

Country Budget
revenues: $3.05 billion
expenditures: $3.05 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Currency (code)
Turkmen manat (TMM)

Currency Exchange Rate
Turkmen manats per US dollar - 10,100 (2004), 10,034 (2003), 10,098 (2002), 5,200 (2001)
note: in recent years the unofficial rate has hovered around 21,000 manats to the dollar

Fiscal Year
calendar year

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $27.6 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: IMF estimate: 7.5%
note: official government statistics show 21.4% growth, but these estimates are notoriously unreliable (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,700 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 28.5%
industry: 42.7%
services: 28.8% (2004 est.)

Imports / Exports
Exports: $4 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, cotton fiber, textiles
Exports - partners: Ukraine 46.6%, Iran 17.3%, Turkey 4.2%, Italy 4.1% (2004)

Imports: $2.85 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
Imports - partners: US 11.8%, Russia 9.7%, UAE 9.2%, Ukraine 9%, Turkey 8.6%, Germany 8%, France 5%, Georgia 4.6%, Iran 4.5% (2004)

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

Investing
Forex, Foreign Exchange Market: Currency Trading

Labor Force & Unemployment Rate
Labor force: 2.32 million (2003 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 48.2%, industry 13.8%, services 37% (2003 est.) 
Unemployment rate: 60% (2004 est.)