IMF mission makes virtual visit to Turkmenistan
A group of International Monetary Fund staff members are on a virtual visit to Turkmenistan on January 18-28. As part of this visit, today, on Wednesday, an online meeting of IMF experts with heads of departments and specialists of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Central Bank of Turkmenistan and the State Committee on Statistics was held. The IMF mission was headed by Natalia Tamirisa and comprised of economists of the Department of the Middle East and Central Asia, research analysts and other experts. During the meeting, the issues of macroeconomic development of the country and certain industries, which had a positive impact on the dynamics of GDP growth were discussed. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on economies of almost all countries. In Turkmenistan, some areas of foreign economic activity have been influenced, while domestic production remained stable. In general, as it was stated at the meeting, the economy of Turkmenistan has a before-pandemic indicators that led to have a high GDP growth rates level compared to other countries. It is facilitated by large, medium and small enterprises launched in previous years, where thousands of jobs have been created and products are produced both for domestic consumption and for export. These enterprises produce high value products that contributed to the increase in the volume and rate of GDP growth in Turkmenistan. Private business plays an important role in the implementation of national programs on production of import-substituting and export-oriented products; as a result, the share of the non-state sector of the economy in the country’s GDP is also increasing.
