AKIPRESS.COM - Departments of the Ministry of Oil and Gas and the Office of Mineral Resources of Turkmenistan are undergoing staff cuts, and the salaries of remaining employees are being decreased, according to The Chronicles of Turkmenistan.

This started following the Turkmen President’s announcement at the extended government session on 9 January that the economic performance of the oil and gas sector did not meet qualifying requirements despite the fact that huge amounts of money were being invested to foster the development of the domestic fuel and energy sector. The country’s leader called for strong measures to be undertaken with a view to increasing the efficiency of their performance.

A serious drop in the exchange rate of the Turkmen manat to the US dollar and other currencies, a price hike in the public and private sectors and reduced subsidies and allowances suggest serious problems in the country’s economy as a whole.

The main source for replenishing Turkmenistan’s budget is the gas sold to Iran, Russia and China. However, in August 2014 Iran, represented by Oil Minister Bijan Zangan, stated that they no longer needed Turkmen gas, and in October the Russian-based “Gasprom” said they would not purchase gas from Turkmenistan.

China is still importing 25 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas a year, but a considerable part of this volume is used to repay Turkmenistan’s debts to its eastern partner. Thus, profits from gas exports, the backbone of the Turkmen economy, have dropped considerably.

Ashirkuli Begliev, the new chairman of “Turkmengas” holding, appointed to this position on 9 January, started his work by cutting costs, which resulted in staff redundancies, primarily staff at gas compressor stations. The stations located along Turkmenistan’s southern and northern pipelines, used to transport gas to Iran and Russia respectively, saw a significant downsizing.