Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The World Bank (WB) improved forecast for Turkmenistan's economy growth rate saying it would reach 6.3 percent in 2018. This was stated in the report of the World Bank entitled “Global economic prospects.”

According to the experts of the bank, the growth of the country's economy will increase to 6.3 percent in 2019-2020.

The WB projected GDP growth of Turkmenistan in 2017 at the level of 6.5 percent

The dynamics of economic growth in Europe and Central Asia is becoming more moderate, despite the high rates at the end of last year.

Despite robust activity in late 2017 and early 2018, momentum has eased amid moderating export growth and less accommodative policies, the bank noted.

“For commodity importers, the significant pickup in activity in 2017 was driven by strengthening demand from the Euro Area and disbursements of EU structural funds in Central Europe, but these factors have started to wane gradually,” the report said.

Commodity exporters in the region continue to experience a cyclical upturn, supported by higher oil prices, a pickup of domestic demand, and strengthening export growth, according to the bank’s analysts.

“Growth in the Europe and Central Asia region is anticipated to ease to 3.2 percent in 2018, down from 4 percent in 2017, as one-off supporting factors wane in some of the region’s largest economies. By 2020, growth is expected to gradually moderate to 3 percent due to less supportive external conditions, intensifying capacity constraints, and less accommodative fiscal and monetary policy in commodity importers,” the report said.

Downside risks include the possibility of a disorderly tightening of financing conditions, lower than-projected oil prices, and heightened policy uncertainty, according to WB analysts.

The GDP growth in Turkmenistan amounted to 6.5 percent in 2017.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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