Turkmenistan: standard of living. Turkmenistan through the eyes of a foreigner

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Turkmenistan is a country that in the 90s of the XX century, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, went through a rather difficult path. At first there were destructions, then there was a period of gradual formation. Turkmenistan, whose standard of living still wished for the best, began to develop steadily. The people played an important role in this process. One of the first republics adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty. In 1995, this state became neutral.

Complex process of becoming

The first decade of the independent existence of Turkmenistan passed in complex processes of destruction of the way of life that existed before this period.

All these negative phenomena were accompanied by a lack of economic development accompanied by the plundering of industrial enterprises, defense facilities and the energy complex. Life in Turkmenistan during this period was further complicated by the redistribution of power and property, accompanied by bloody and fratricidalevents.

Factors contributing to economic development

Turkmenistan, whose standard of living has risen significantly thanks to the perseverance and hard work of the people, was able to stop the destructive processes in the economy.

Turkmenistan is a luxuriously gifted place. Its main features are a sunny and warm climate, gas and oil fields. The country is characterized by a closed type of economy, expressed in the fact that foreign investment is attracted only to complex deposits. It should be noted that Turkmenistan is a geographically closed space, has no access to the sea, and is surrounded by states in which the political situation often makes it difficult to expand gas pipelines. And, of course, talented people, politically conservative in the Eastern way, but appreciating what they have.

These factors contributed to the economic recovery of the country, namely:

• modern agricultural sector can bring annually about two million tons of wheat and the same amount of cotton;
• equipping the processing industry with new factories for processing raw cotton or sugar beets;
• new denim and cotton fabric factories have appeared in light industry;
• Lubricating oils and high-octane gasoline are produced from Turkmen oil at a modern refinery;
• thanks to the annual supply of natural gas and oil by the extractive industry, Turkmenistan's need for energy is fully coveredmaterials.

Turkmenistan through the eyes of a foreigner

A person who has been absent from the country for some time is struck by almost everything in Turkmenistan. Thus, the landscape, architecture and infrastructure of both the country as a whole and its individual cities are changing with great speed. There is a fabulous speed in the construction of new high-rise buildings, swimming pools, hospitals, highways, concert halls, tennis courts, business centers, hotels, stadiums, as well as the beautiful Ashgabat airport made of marble and glass.

Economy of Turkmenistan

Modern Turkmenistan, whose standard of living has improved significantly, is characterized by political calm and stability.

The high rate of economic development contributes to the creation of a warm investment climate. As a result, investments in the development of Turkmenistan by world construction companies.

Turkmenistan's economy is developing successfully thanks to significant investments by foreign investors in the energy and mining industries.

In a fairly short period, this country has turned from a resource base into a rapidly developing state. The modern economy of Turkmenistan confirms its independence. This state impresses with its calmness on the streets and beneficial external changes.

Today, Turkmenistan (the standard of living of the people) ranks first among the countries of Central Asia and the CIS. The population has the opportunity to use natural resources free of charge: s alt, gas, water and light. On sufficientair communication between the cities of Turkmenistan is developed.

Key macroeconomic indicators

The International Monetary Fund predicts a decline in GDP growth to 9% in 2015 (this information is available on the official website of the IMF).

As stated in this press release, 2014 for Turkmenistan was marked by GDP growth of 10.3%. At the same time, the state economy remained quite resistant to various shocks in the regional market. Such a life in Turkmenistan has become possible thanks to the active export of hydrocarbon resources and government investment.

The expected decline in GDP this year, according to the IMF, will be due to a decrease in the level of proceeds from the export of natural gas, as well as a decrease in public investment in relation to GDP.

Despite the recent depreciation of the national currency, the expected inflation at the end of the year will be about 6.5% (Turkmenistan's average is 7.5%). This situation will become possible due to the subsequent fall in world food prices and the appreciation of the dollar.

Life in Turkmenistan for other nationalities

The 2003 census showed that Turkmen make up only 85% of the total population of the state, the remaining 15% are representatives of other nationalities.

Let's take a closer look at the life of Russians in Turkmenistan. So, all in the same 2003, an agreement was signed between Moscow and Ashgabat, according to which Gazprom becamepurchase natural gas from Turkmenneftegaz until 2028. However, the same year is significant for Turkmenistan by the termination of the 1993 Agreement, according to which this state unilaterally terminated the possibility of having dual citizenship. Despite this fact, the Russian embassy still issued Russian passports even later than 2003, explaining this by the lack of ratification of this protocol by the Russian parliament.

In 2013, the situation worsened somewhat, as under the pretext of changing old-style international passports to a new one, the authorities of Turkmenistan offered the “twins” to renounce citizenship other than Turkmen. This problem has not been solved to this day.

The standard of living in Turkmenistan today

The standard of modern life in the state under consideration has grown significantly in recent years, and this is confirmed by the analysis of this indicator on the example of the capital - Ashgabat.

So, the answer to the question “Is it easy to live in Turkmenistan?” serves as an increase in the number of foreign cars on the roads, as well as expensive mobile phones among residents.

For ordinary people, such arguments may seem a little naive. However, economists can confidently say that an improvement in the well-being of the population of any state can only take place with an increase in GDP, an increase in per capita income. At the same time, an ordinary person only focuses on the prices of products that are on store shelves. Based on these components, we can say that the average standard of livingpopulation in Turkmenistan has become higher.

Development Priorities

To further improve the standard of living in Turkmenistan, strong social guarantees for the population should be provided, which are the basis for the development of economic activity, as well as forms of ownership. The reform of the banking, credit and financial system of the state should continue, the most favorable conditions have been created for the protection and social support of the population.

The first decade of the XXI century to ensure the socio-economic development of the country is due to the need to refine legislation, as well as to develop completely new approaches to regulation in the legal field of economic relations. Therefore, legislative activity should be carried out in the following directions.

Improving the regulatory framework

This is the first direction that should strengthen and develop the market economy. One of the main areas of improvement of the economic block was the development of new legislation, which defines the legal basis for the implementation of commercial (entrepreneurial) activities. This circumstance is the need for subsequent legal regulation of the processes of creation and operation of business entities. Enterprises occupy an important place among them.

Fiscal, monetary and budgetary legislation

This is the second direction of improving the regulatory framework. The modern legal framework is characterized by a certainsolidity, and also regulates relations in the financial system of the entire state. The main attention in this process should be paid to improving the efficiency of the state budget as a macroeconomic mechanism for managing the entire economy of the country.

The success of the budget policy directly depends on the tax system of the state. The main principle of legislative work is the codification of the entire tax regulatory framework that Turkmenistan has today. Scientific life in this can significantly improve the general state of legislation. Thus, based on a systematic study of various taxes and fees, as well as methods and forms of ensuring their payment to the budget, a unified system for the formation, collection and approval of all mandatory payments should be developed and legislated.

Regulation of activities of certain sectors of the economy

This direction is the third most important and should contribute to the legal regulation of activities carried out in some industries that occupy one of the key places in the entire economic structure of Turkmenistan.

Thanks to the socio-economic reforms and transformations carried out, intensive development will be achieved in such sectors of the economy: agro-industrial, fuel and energy and construction complexes. In this case, we must not forget about the textile industry, the construction industry, transport and communications.

Summing up the above material, it should be noted that Turkmenistan was able to overcome the difficulties that arose afterthe collapse of the Union, and not only overcome the crisis, but also take the path of economic development.