Economy of Turkmenistan

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Economy of Turkmenistan

Oil platform of Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea
Currency	Turkmen manat (TMT)
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organisations	CIS, ECO
Statistics
GDP	US$90.904 billion (nominal, 2024 est.)[1] US$131.710 billion (PPP, 2024 est.)[1]
GDP rank	94th (PPP, 2023)
GDP growth	6.2% (2018) 6.3% (2019) 1.8% (2020e) 4.0% (2021f)[2][1]
GDP per capita	US$14,434 (nominal, 2023 est.)[1] US$20,914 (PPP, 2023 est.)[1]
GDP by sector	agriculture (12.7%), industry (50.1%), services (37.7%) (2018 est.)
Inflation (CPI)	8% (2020)[1]
Population below poverty line	0.2% (2018 est.)
Human Development Index	0.745 high (2021)[3] (91th) 0.619 mediumIHDI (2021)[4]
Labour force	2.405 million (2018 est.)
Labour force by occupation	agriculture (44.2%), industry (15%), services (40.8%) (2018 est.)
Unemployment	15% (2020 est.)
Main industries	natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing
External
Exports	US$7.2 billion (2019)
Export goods	gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, textiles, cotton fiber
Main export partners	China 66.5%  Turkey 9.23%  Uzbekistan 8.76%  Georgia 2.85  Russia 1.86%  Brazil 1.37%  Cyprus 1.18%  Greece 1.17%  Ukraine 1.14%  Italy 0.99% (2021)[5]
Imports	US$3.47 billion (2021)
Import goods	machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
Main import partners	Turkey 28.2%  China 14.8%  Russia 13.6%  United Arab Emirates 7.13%  Germany 6.18%  Italy 5.13%  India 3.23%  Uzbekistan 2.75%  USA 2.27%  Brazil 1.77% (2021)[6]
Gross external debt	US$5 billion (2021)[7]
Public finances
Revenues	US$9.047 billion (2019 est.)
Expenses	US$10.659 billion (2019 est.)
Economic aid	US$4.3 million from the United States (As of 2021[update])[8]
Foreign reserves	US$40.06 billion (31 December 2018 est.)[9]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Turkmenistan continues to recover from the 2014 downturn in hydrocarbon prices,^[10] but remains "in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the immediate post-independence period, driven in part by low gas prices, the suspension of gas exports to Russia between 2016 and 2019...and poor harvests."^[11] Former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow at a session of the Cabinet of Ministers on March 11, 2021, called the rate of GDP growth unsatisfactory.^[7][12] When discussing the 2021 government budget, he noted that 2021 would be "as difficult" a year as 2020 had been.^[13] According to the 2020 Investment Climate Statement of the US Department of State, Turkmenistan's economy depends heavily on the production and export of natural gas, oil, petrochemicals and, to a lesser degree, cotton, wheat, and textiles. The economy is still recovering from a deep recession that followed the late 2014 collapse in global energy prices. The current investment climate is considered high risk for US foreign direct investment.^[10]

Turkmenistan is largely a desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated areas, and huge gas and oil resources. In terms of natural gas reserves, as of 2020 it is ranked 4th in the world.^[14] Turkmenistan's two largest agricultural crops are cotton, most of which is produced for export, and wheat, most of which is domestically consumed.^[15] Turkmenistan is among the top ten producers of cotton in the world.