Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 1
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested 256 million euros in various sectors of Turkmenistan’s economy, EBRD said.
Particular attention is paid to the support for private entrepreneurship.
To date, EBRD has invested more than 250 million euros in various sectors of Turkmenistan’s economy within 65 investment projects throughout the country and supported more than 200 enterprises within the consulting projects, EBRD said.
EBRD forecasts the growth of Turkmenistan’s economy for 2018-2019 at the level of 5 percent. According to Regional Economic Prospects, despite the Turkmen economy grew by 6.5 percent in 2017, presently, the country faces a number of problems.
The decrease in export earnings led to strict currency regulation by the Central Bank. There is a "black market currency exchange rate" in the country, which exceeds the official exchange rate by more than three times.
Trying to overcome the currency deficit, Turkmenistan is looking for new gas export routes and is conducting large-scale diversification of the economy.
According to the BP report, Turkmenistan ranks fourth in natural gas reserves in the world and presently, exports it to China and Iran.
Ashgabat set a course to diversify the local economy. The textile industry and the production of oil products, the oil and gas chemical industries and the industry for production of building materials are actively developing.