An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Mr. Martin Sommer visited
Ashgabat during March 6-17, 2017, to hold discussions for the 2017 Article
IV consultation. During the visit, the team held meetings to assess
macroeconomic and financial developments and discuss economic challenges
and policy priorities with senior government officials, members of the
Parliament, representatives of real and financial sectors, academics, and
the diplomatic community. At the end of the visit, Mr. Sommer issued the
following statement:
“The Turkmen economy continues to adjust to a challenging external
environment, including persistently low natural gas prices and slower
growth in trading partners. Growth has been broadly stable recently,
supported by natural gas exports and industrial policies. However, the
external current account deficit remains.
“The authorities have been adjusting their strategy to the new reality of
lower hydrocarbon prices. In the near term, the key policy challenge is to
re-calibrate the policy mix to reduce the sizable external imbalances.
Options include gradual but significant cuts in public investment
expenditures that remain among the highest in the world, combined with
other policy measures which would help adjust domestic demand to a more
sustainable level. The pace and composition of policy adjustment should be
designed to reduce the adverse impact on economic growth and vulnerable
segments of the population.
“In this challenging external environment, maintaining strong, sustainable,
and inclusive growth will require improvements in the business and
regulatory environment to support further private sector development,
effective implementation of reforms of state-owned enterprises and
privatization, greater efficiency of public spending, and continued focus
on social protection and human development outcomes. The authorities are
aware of these priorities, and plan to embed them in the upcoming 7-year
development plan for 2017-23.
“Broader dissemination and improving the quality of macroeconomic and
financial data would help enhance understanding of economic trends, attract
foreign direct investment, and ease access to the global financial markets.
“The IMF stands ready to support the government’s reforms through policy
advice and capacity building, including on macroeconomic statistics and
forecasting, monetary policy operations, and fiscal policy.”
