Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 11
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) forecasts Turkmenistan's economic growth for 2018-2019 at the level of 5 percent, according to the EBRD Regional Economic Prospects.
EBRD's forecast for Turkmenistan's economic growth in 2016 and 2017 was 6.2 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
The official data says, the economy of Turkmenistan grew by 6.2 percent in January-April 2018. The EBRD said that Turkmenistan's economy grew by 6.5 percent in 2017, however, despite this apparently high growth rate, the economy faces a range of challenges.
Meagre export growth has resulted in foreign exchange rationing by the Central Bank and heightened exchange rate pressures. The parallel market rate stood at 14 Turkmen manats per US dollar in March 2018 against the official rate of 3.5 manats per US dollar.
Turkmenistan, according to the British Petroleum (BP) report, ranks fourth in the world in terms of natural gas reserves and at this stage exports it to China and Iran.
At this stage, the industry of textiles and petroleum products has advanced, and the oil and gas chemical industry and the industry for the production of building materials are actively developing. Turkmenistan is carrying out industrialization aimed at increasing the production of import-substituting products and the development of exports.