GDP growth reaches 14.4pc ‘Turkmen’

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 14.4 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same year-ago period, state media quoted President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as saying.

Turkmenistan, a reclusive Central Asian nation of 5.4 million people which holds the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves, rarely publishes macroeconomic statistics and the president remains the main source of such data.

Chairing a cabinet meeting on Friday, Berdymukhamedov said industrial production had expanded by 42.9 percent in year-on-year terms in January-June. He gave no comparative GDP and industrial output figures for the same year-ago period.

Turkmenistan's entire economy hinges on natural gas exports. The desert nation is keen to develop new gas export routes, including to Europe, to lessen its heavy dependence of gas sales to Russia.

The International Monetary Fund said last month the country's near-term growth outlook was "favourable" due to rising gas exports and growth in public spending and urged Ashgabat to use the opportune moment to put in place priority reforms.

Turkmenistan's GDP rose 9.2 percent in 2010. The IMF said in April that it expects the country's economy to expand by 9.0 percent this year.

A senior Turkmen government official told a regional economic forum last month that Turkmenistan's economy might actually grow by 14 percent this year.

Copyright Reuters, 2010