Shrinking exports spell trouble for Turkmenistan
But the authoritarian president pins his hopes on a “Turkmen Las Vegas”
WHEN the price of natural gas was high, Turkmenistan raked in $10bn a year from exports—a tidy sum for a country of 5m people. Most of it went on the grandiose schemes of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the authoritarian president and self-proclaimed “Protector”, or was distributed to his cronies. But the economy nonetheless grew at an average annual rate of 11% between 2010 and 2014, according to official statistics.
The price of natural gas has since halved, however, with dire consequences. Gas accounted for a quarter of GDP and half of all government revenue. The low price means the economy has slowed markedly (see chart), and the budget has swung from a surplus of nearly 10% of GDP in 2012 to a projected deficit of 3% this year. Dwindling foreign-exchange reserves equate to just nine months of imports.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "A stan, a plan, a cabal"
Asia December 17th 2016
- Everyone is talking about demonetisation in India—except parliament
- Taiwan’s Kuomintang party is broke and adrift
- Shrinking exports spell trouble for Turkmenistan
- Singapore expands its paternalistic policy on race
- The president of the Philippines boasts about personally killing drug suspects
- South Korea’s president fights impeachment and other demons
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