Address at the International Conference on "Policy of Neutrality and Its Role in Ensuring International Peace, Security and Sustainable Development"

IMF News, December 12, 2020

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The global economy is "going through unprecedented stress and uncertainty."
Energy exporters like Turkmenistan face the dual challenge of managing the pandemic and the "collapse in oil prices."
The recovery is described as a "Long Ascent," "accompanied by uncertainty and prone to setbacks."

"The crisis puts decades of progress in jeopardy."
Exact impacts cited:
- "the equivalent of 400 million jobs were lost this past spring."
- "90 million people are expected to fall into extreme poverty."
- "More than 1.5 billion children have been affected by school closures."
Uneven burden: "Inequality is growing, as the burden of the crisis has fallen unevenly across sectors."
Particularly hard hit groups: "women, migrants, and rural populations."

The crisis has "made the task of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals more daunting."
Before the pandemic, achieving the 2030 Agenda was "already challenging."
The pandemic and "the projected slow and uneven recovery" are "putting additional pressures on the SDG timeline."
Emphasis on global interdependence: "We, the global community, are interdependent and only as strong as our weakest members."

Turkmenistan is "starting from a position of relative strength."
Fiscal space provides "options and room to maneuver" and "could safeguard long-term financial sustainability" if allocated wisely.
Policy recommendations and priorities:
- "By targeting assistance to the unemployed and those without access to public services, Turkmenistan can lift up the most vulnerable."
- "By promoting trade and investment, Turkmenistan can diversify revenues and raise incomes."
- "By fostering transparency and good governance, Turkmenistan can improve its business environment and open its economy."
- Support for a "thriving private sector" to help "eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, and lay the foundations for sustainable development."

The IMF offers policy advice, macroeconomic expertise, and help to "articulate a vision to emerge from this crisis better than before."
Since the start of the pandemic, the IMF has approved "over $100 billion in support of nearly 90 countries, 49 of which are low-income."
The IMF has adapted its technical assistance program to remote-working arrangements to "flexibly help 160 of our members."
The IMF values its "constructive relationship between the IMF and Turkmenistan" and expresses intent to "further advance our cooperation."

Call for collective action: "Unity makes strength."
Recovery principles: "inclusion, resilience, and compassion."
Final exhortation: policymakers, civil society, international institutions, and people across the region can "take the sustainable development 2030 agenda from goals to achievements."

Tao Zhang, IMF Deputy Managing Director; December 12, 2020.