The World Bank excluded Turkmenistan from its latest Global Economic Prospects report due to the lack of reliable data. The report notes that the country is separated from macroeconomic aggregates.
Earlier, in April 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stopped using the official state statistics of Turkmenistan. The Monetary Fund did not use Turkmenistan’s GDP growth data in its latest World Economic Outlook report. At that time, the country’s authorities stated that the growth rate of Turkmenistan’s GDP in 2020 was 5.9%.
However, according to the IMF, it was 0.8%.
Another example: the Turkmen manat has two courses. According to the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Turkmenistan, 1 US dollar costs 3.51 manats. This rate has not changed since the end of 2018. Although the exchange rate on the black market changes frequently.
Moreover, on the black market, the local currency not only loses its value, sometimes even strengthens. At the beginning of this week, the price of the dollar was 33.5 manats when buying and 34.5 manats when selling. Although in April 2021, 40 manats were offered for $ 1. The dollar on the black market of Turkmenistan in November 2020 was traded for 24-25 manats.
Caspian Barrel
