At a Cabinet of Ministers meeting on January 10th, a proposal was presented to the President of Turkmenistan to implement a new statistical reporting system aligned with the improved System of National Accounts (SNA).
The “Program of the President of Turkmenistan for the Socio-Economic Development of the Country for 2022-2028” outlines measures to integrate a statistical system that adheres to the improved SNA framework. In this regard, for several years, together with experts from international financial institutions, work has been gradually carried out to refine methodologies for calculating Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other key macroeconomic indicators.
Gurbangul Atayeva, Head of the Department of Integrated Economic Analysis and Information at the State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan, discusses the newly implemented statistical reporting methods in the article published the “Turkmenistan” newspaper.
In particular, as part of the transition to an improved version of the SNA, State Committee for Statistics of Turkmenistan has developed and implemented new methods for calculating the consumption of fixed assets in finance, banking and insurance, science, tourism and other fields.
One of the improved methods is the “Methodology for estimating the volume of gross emissions of the Central Bank.” The basic rules of the improved System of National Accounts mandate a distinction between market and non-market activities when determining the volume of production of the central bank. This distinction is duly reflected in the guidelines.
According to the “Methodology for Indirect Financial Intermediation Services”, bank income was previously calculated based solely on the interest earned on issued loans. However, the new calculation method deducts the interest earned on deposits from the interest earned on loans.
The ‘Methodology for Calculating the Volume of Insurance Services‘ incorporates new approaches to enhance the accuracy of several key indicators. In accordance with the improved SNA, financial insurance services (excluding life insurance) are accounted for in the secondary income distribution account.
The refined ‘Methodology for Calculating Research Costs‘ recognizes intellectual property products as integral components of fixed assets, classifying them as business generating fixed capital.
The new methodology for tourism expenditure development calculates added value for individual trips by extracting tourism-related income from the respective economic sectors.
As part of the transition to an improved version of the National Accounts System, the Committee has developed 5 statistical classifiers: financial assets; non–financial assets; functions of government bodies; goals of non-profit organizations serving households; statistical classifiers of fixed assets.
Furthermore, the Electronic Statistics and Business Register platform was introduced, fully compliant with the requirements of the improved SNA. This new methodology mandates that statistical reporting accurately reflect the region where products or services were produced.
The modernization of Turkmenistan’s statistical system was carried out with the technical and methodological assistance of the Statistical Office of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the United Nations.///nCa, 17 January 2025