According to information published by the turkmenistan.ru website, another session of the Turkmen cabinet was held December 18th. It was attended by Minister of Finance Hojamyrat Geldymyradov, who had been asked to present a preliminary report on the economic development of Turkmenistan in 2007.
The poor minister must have been extremely nervous; his hands probably trembled, drops of sweat appeared on his forehead. The cabinet session is, after all, an important event! The President may get angry or be unsatisfied with the report. What then? The minister will, at best, get a rebuke or loose a month’s salary. But what about all those who were suddenly removed from post or - heaven forbid - arrested? Who knows what may happen!

Our minister must have been thinking for a longer while, scratching his head during sleepless nights as he tried to envisage the cabinet session, the president’s expression, his penetrating look. And what was the outcome? Actually, he did quite well: according to the minister’s report on Turkmenistan’s economic development, the preliminary figures in the passing year were as follows:

The expected growth in industry will reach 126.6%, in agriculture - 119%, in transport and communications - 120.5%. The pace of GDP growth will amount to 111.6%. As compared to 2006, we expect gas and oil extraction to grow by 9%, electricity production - by 6%, crude oil products - by 2%, iodine - by 7%, other mineral resources - by 35%, fish - by 17%.

I wonder if the minister just made these figures up as he went along or did he have to make up the whole theory and support them with complicated tables and charts? That would not be an easy thing to do at all. But what’s that? Not all the rates went up? It turns out some of them didn’t!

We expect paper production to decrease by 54%, nitrogen - by 9%. Meat and milk production rates and the number of cattle and sheep will remain unchanged.

Having said all this, the minister probably froze with horror awaiting the worst to happen. But what a luck?! The president remained silent. Or did he even nod his head in reverie? He could have rebuked the minister for that paper and sheep, after all.

To make things short, the hero of our story got away in one peace. Maybe he was just lucky or maybe his speech sounded reliable thanks to the whole night he spent preparing it, maybe someone else got rebuked this time. The minister may sleep calmly now. At least till the next cabinet session.