Turkmenistan : an overview

 80169 Turkmenistan: An Overview ECA PEG BRIEF SERIES 2012 PEG BRIEF: TURKMENISTAN Turkmenistan is a lower-middle income country that has substantial oil and gas reserves. Having a relatively closed economy, Turkmenistan was less affected by the financial crisis than other countries in the region, partly due to its isolation from global markets, but also due to substantial reserves that supported public investments and social programs. More recently, inflows of FDI have increased, particularly in CONTENTS: hydrocarbons. The main political economy drivers in Turkmenistan are Overview: 1 centralization of authority, geopolitical forces, and the politics of Basic Governance Facts: 1 natural resources. These resources, notably gas have fostered greater Governance at-a-Glance: 2 cooperation between Turkmenistan and partners such as China and the Political Economy EU. However, the abundance of power vested in the executive limits Background: 4 pluralism, the functions of local government, and appears to be affecting Key Governance Challenges: 5 service delivery; although data on poverty and other indicators are not World Bank Strategy published. Turkmenistan faces governance challenges including rule of and Activities: 6 law, voice, accountability and transparency, public participation, Notes: 6 administrative capacity, corruption, and private sector development. While World Bank engagement in Turkmenistan is limited, there may be emerging entry points to introduce governance reforms. This brief summarizes Turkmenistan’s performance on various governance indicators and summarizes recent developments in political economy along with a discussion of challenges identified by Bank Staff. BASIC GOVERNANCE FACTS Government Type: Table 1: Rankings for Key Governance Indicators Turkmenistan is nominally (Lower ranks indicate better performance) a presidential republic, but is characterized by EIU Doing Transparency Heritage WEF Global Democracy Business International Foundation Competitiveness authoritarian presidential Index Index Corruption Index Index rule, with little power 2011 2012 Perceptions 2012 2011 outside the executive (of 167 (of 183 Index (of 179 (of 142 1 branch. countries) countries) 2011 countries) countries) (of 183 countries) Administrative Divisions: Turkmenistan is a unitary Turkmenistan 165 NA 177 168 NA state characterized by a FSU-S Average 119.9 85.9 134.4 95.6 93.2 highly centralized 2 government system. It is EU-25 Average 24.7 36.3 32.4 40.1 33.9 divided into 5 regions ECA Average 80.6 72.4 93.1 78.8 72.6 (welayats) and an independent city (the 3 Capital city of Ashgabat). The 5 regions of the territorial-administrative structure are formed based on tribal district, and city levels. At the village level, directly elected legislative councils are characteristics. Local present, but they follow the lead of local governors who are directly appointed by the 4 government structures president, at all levels. The tribal characteristics and affiliations have strong political are comprised of people’s implications. councils at the regional, central government The Political Economy and Governance (PEG) Brief Series, developed by the governance team in ECSP4 and supported by the Governance Partnership Facility, aims to inform World Bank Country Teams on the governance, institutional, and political economy environmentFOR to the BANK WORLD relevant INTERNAL World Bank USE work in all ONLY sectors. . PAGE The 1 Briefs are classified for INTERNAL USE ONLY and are not to be cited, publically disseminated nor circulated. The information in this Brief is current as of September 2012 and is to be updated annually. For more information, please contact Jana Kunicova or Kimberly Johns, ECSP4. Constitution: Adopted in 1992, and amended in 2008. The SECTION 1: GOVERNANCE AT A GLANCE 2008 amendments dissolved the People's Council, a second, 2,507-member legislative body. The amendments also Turkmenistan is relatively closed society and on the expanded the number of deputies in the National Parliament governance indicators that are available, it ranks in the from 65 to 125. lowest percentiles. This section provides an overview of governance indicators for Turkmenistan. Executive Branch: Key Governance Indicators Head of State: President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow has been in power since February 14, 2007 and was re-elected for •Democracy Index (EIU 2011) 165 out of 167 a second term on February 12, 2012. The Democracy Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit measures democracy via five categories (electoral process Presidential Elections: The president is elected by popular and pluralism; civil liberties; functioning of government; vote for a five-year term and can be re-elected (there is no political participation; and political culture). Turkmenistan is limit on a number of terms in the office). The last election considered an “authoritarian regime