Turkmenistan’s GDP fuelled by natural gas

ASHGABAT - Reuters

A total of 1,865 investment projects estimated to be worth over $41 billion are being implemented in the country, Turkmenistan’s president has said. AA photo

The economy of Turkmenistan, Central Asia’s largest producer of natural gas, grew 9.4 percent in the first six months of 2013 compared to an 11.1 percent rise in the year-ago period, state media quoted the nation’s president as saying on July 13.

President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who enjoys vast power in the Muslim nation of 5.5 million, was shown on television telling a government meeting that the country’s rapid growth was backed by prudent state spending and massive foreign investment.

The country is forecast to increase its gross domestic product by 8 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, citing the growing gas exports in the country, which holds the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves.

A total of 1,865 investment projects estimated to be worth over $41 billion are currently being implemented in the country, said Berdymukhamedov, who remains the main source of economic information in the reclusive nation. In September the country will launch production at Galkynsh, the world’s second-largest natural gas deposit. That will allow Turkmenistan to sharply ramp up gas exports to China, which has fast supplanted the nation’s former imperial master Russia as the main importer of Turkmen natural gas.