ECONOMY

Igor PROKLOV

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Igor Proklov, Researcher, Near and Middle East Department, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russian Federation)

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In 2006, as in previous years, the Turkmen authorities continued to implement a program known as the Strategy of Economic, Political and Cultural Development of Turkmenistan for the Period Until 2020, adopted in 2003. The main goal of this program is to maintain the country’s economic independence and security through rapid economic growth, a steady increase in GDP per capita, high investment activity, and faster construction of production and social facilities.

However, the end of the year was marked by a watershed event in Turkmenistan’s development: President Saparmurat Niyazov, the country’s invariable head of state for over 20 years, died on 21 December.

Today it is too early to say how far the country’s economic vector will change after Niyazov’s death, but this event will undoubtedly become a major turning point in Turkmenistan’s modern history and change the geopolitical situation in the region. As many observers had predicted, a struggle for the position of president got underway in the country, but one should not expect any rapid changes in the economic sphere. Moreover, the presidential contenders kept emphasizing the immutability of the economic course both within the republic and in relations with other countries, primarily in the oil and gas sector.

As regards macroeconomic indicators, from mid-2006 Turkmenistan stopped publishing official statistics. International financial organizations have repeatedly noted the………….

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