Modern Turkmenistan demonstrates a stable growth of the main economic indicators. The results of the first quarter of this year show that Turkmenistan has sustained the high dynamics of the development of the economy. Several key macroeconomic indicators demonstrated positive changes in comparison with the previous year. In an interview to CentralAsia.news, Valentin Trapeznikov, an economic observer, spoke about the main economic successes of the state.
The geography of industrialization is expanding
In general, the GDP growth rate in the first quarter of 2022 was 6,2% against 5,9% in 2021. GDP growth is ensured by such spheres as an industry, agriculture and construction, trade, transport and communications, and other services. The growth rate of value added in the real sector within the analyzed period amounted to 5,7%, and in the service industries — to 6,7%.
This year the share of industry in the country’s GDP amounted to 31,2% against 26,0% last year. Thus, it increased by more than 5% and continues to be the highest among all industries.
It should be noted that the average growth rate of industrial production amounted to 7,3%. At the same time, in several industries, growth significantly exceeding this level was recorded. In particular, in the metallurgical industry, it amounted to 58,1%, woodworking — 57,1%, food — 24,8%, electric power — 11,8%, light industry — 11,0%, building materials industry — 10,2%.
The share in GDP of agriculture and construction amounted to 6,3% and 6,7%, respectively.
Growth of foreign trade turnover
During the relevant period, the share of trade in the total GDP of the country is 21,4%, transport and communications — 11,0%, and other industries providing services — 23,4%.
The highest increase in gross value added among service industries was recorded in trade — 8,8%. In transport and communications, it is 4,0%, and in other industries — 6,1%.
This demonstrates an increase in the share of the real sector of the economy in the country’s GDP. This year, the total share of industry, agriculture and construction reached 44,2% of total GDP, while in 2021 this figure was 39,8%.
At the same time, the total share of service industries in the structure of GDP this year amounted to 55,8%, having decreased from 60,2% registered last year.
Other macroeconomic indicators also improved. Thus, foreign trade turnover in the period under review amounted to 4.27 billion dollars and increased by 42,8% compared to the previous year.
At the same time, the volume of exports amounted to about 2.75 billion dollars, having increased by 55,4%, and imports — more than 1.5 billion dollars, showing an increase of 23,6%.
The positive balance of foreign trade amounted to 1.23 billion dollars and increased by almost 2.3 times compared to the previous year.
Other positive indicators include the fulfillment of the task for the receipt of funds to the state budget of Turkmenistanby by 105,5% , as well as an increase in the average monthly wage at medium and large enterprises by 10,4% compared to the same period of the previous year.
