ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, April 12. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects that Turkmenistan's national debt will decline to 3.9 percent of GDP in 2025, as the government repays external debt on energy projects., Trend reports.
The Bank observes that, while financing for public investment projects will continue to be important, Turkmenistan's public debt is expected to be 4.4 percent of GDP in 2024.
"The state budget is expected to be close to balance in 2024 and 2025 due to strong hydrocarbon earnings. While finance for government investment projects will remain significant, public debt is forecast at 4.4 percent of GDP in 2024," the bank notes.
Furthermore, the bank added that, according to forecasts, the surplus of the state budget of Turkmenistan will decrease from 2.4 percent of GDP in 2022 to 0.9 percent in 2023.
"The smaller surplus reflected higher expenditure from increased capital spending. While the state budget does not capture off-budget expenditure, a report by Fitch Ratings in February 2024 estimated public debt to have declined from the equivalent of 5.8 percent of GDP at the end of 2022 to 4.3 percent a year later," the bank's report says.
Meanwhile, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov recently noted that the GDP growth rate of Turkmenistan from January through March 2024 remained stable at 6.3 percent.
The President added that during the specified period, the growth rate of Turkmenistan's industrial sector reached 4.7 percent, in the transport and communications sector, 6.6 percent, in the service sector, 7.6 percent, in trade, 8.2 percent, and in agriculture, 4.1 percent.
