ASHGABAT (TCA) — At the meeting of Turkmenistan’s Cabinet of Ministers on July 7, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov summarized the country’s results for the first half of the year and outlined tasks for the period until the year’s end, Turkmen state media reported.
The president said that over the period since the beginning of the year, the volume of investments directed to the infrastructure of the private and public sectors had grown. Good results had been achieved in the production of goods and services, which made it possible to achieve a GDP growth of 6.4 percent in the first half of 2017.
The revenues of the State budget had also increased, which enabled the government to increase the average wage by 9 percent, while the national currency — the manat — had remained stable, the president said.
The president paid particular attention to the diversification of the Turkmen economy. State programs for the production of import-substituting goods and increasing the production of export-oriented products, and the formation of the country’s own electronic industry, are successfully implemented.
The head of state emphasized the need of creation of joint industrial ventures and new jobs.
The president instructed heads of Turkmenistan’s oil and gas sector to continue work on diversification of routes for the export of Turkmen energy resources to world markets. To this end, it is necessary to build oil and gas pipelines with high quality, and to discover new hydrocarbon deposits.
All these optimistic government figures and plans come amid reports in independent media about the deteriorating economic situation in Turkmenistan caused by low prices for hydrocarbons — the country’s main export item and hard-currency earner, and a shortage of some basic food products.
