er. It also is the world's fourth largest
producer of natural gas and has the fifth largest reserves.
Furthermore, Turkmenistan has substantial oil resources; its two oil
refineries make it an exporter of refined products. Profiting from the
move toward market prices for its oil and gas resources, Turkmenistan
has suffered the least economic decline of the 15 states of the former
USSR. With an authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a
tribally based social structure, Turkmenistan has taken a cautious
approach to questions of economic reform, using the profits from its
gas and cotton exports to sustain a generally inefficient economy.
Economic restructuring and privatization have just begun, and price
liberalization and price increases have been accompanied by generous
wage hikes and subsidies. At the same time, Turkmenistan faces serious
constraints on its gas and oil earnings because of the inability of
its traditional regional customers to pay for the current level of
purchases and the lack of pipeline access to hard currency markets.
Faced with financial shortfalls, rampant inflation, and the desire to
ensure a stable currency, the regime has become more receptive to
market reforms yet still seeks to offer widespread social benefits to
its population and to retain state domination over the economy.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $13 billion (1993 estimate from
the UN International Comparison Program, as extended to 1991 and
published in the World Bank's World Development Report 1993; and as
extrapolated to 1993 using official Turkmen statistics, which are very
uncertain because of major economic changes since 1990)
National product real growth rate:
7.8% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$3,330 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
45% per month (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
2.9% (1992 est.); includes only officially registered unemployed; also
large number of underemployed
Budget:
revenues:
$NA
expenditures:
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports:
$1.2 billion to states outside the FSU (1993)
commodities:
natural gas, cotton, petroleum products, textiles, carpets
partners:
Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Eastern Europe,
Turkey, Argentina
Imports:
$490 million from states outside the FSU (1993)
commodities:
machinery and parts, grain and food, plastics and