Ashgabat
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (3632) 24-49-25, 24-49-22
FAX: [7] (3632) 25-53-79

Flag: green field, including a vertical stripe on the hoist side, with
a claret vertical stripe in between containing five white, black, and
orange carpet guls (an assymetrical design used in producing rugs)
associated with five different tribes; a white crescent and five white
stars in the upper left corner to the right of the carpet guls

@Turkmenistan:Economy

Overview: Turkmenistan is largely desert country with nomadic cattle
raising, intensive agriculture in irrigated oases, and huge gas and
oil resources. Half its irrigated land is planted in cotton making it
the world's tenth largest producer. It also has the world's fifth
largest reserves of natural gas and significant oil resources. Until
the end of 1993, Turkmenistan had experienced less economic disruption
than other former Soviet states because its economy received a boost
from higher prices for oil and gas and a sharp increase in hard
currency earnings. In 1994, Russia's refusal to export Turkmen gas to
hard currency markets and mounting debts of its major customers in the
former USSR for gas deliveries contributed to a sharp fall in
industrial production and caused the budget to shift from a surplus to
a slight deficit. Furthermore, 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. With the onset of
economic hard times, even cautious moves toward economic restructuring
and privatization have slowed down. For 1995, Turkmenistan will face
continuing constraints on its earnings because of its customers'
inability to pay for their gas and a low average cotton crop in 1994.
Turkmenistan is working hard to open new gas export channels through
Iran and Turkey, but these may take many years to realize.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $13.1 billion (1994
estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)

National product real growth rate: -24% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $3,280 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 25% per month (1994)

Unemployment rate: NA

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Exports: $382 million to states ou