AGL 40.18 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (0.45%)
AIRLINK 127.31 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (0.21%)
BOP 6.64 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.45%)
CNERGY 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.22%)
DCL 8.57 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.23%)
DFML 41.97 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (1.28%)
DGKC 87.75 Increased By ▲ 0.90 (1.04%)
FCCL 32.70 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (1.3%)
FFBL 65.21 Increased By ▲ 0.41 (0.63%)
FFL 10.33 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.78%)
HUBC 109.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.2%)
HUMNL 14.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.34%)
KEL 5.13 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.58%)
KOSM 7.54 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.07%)
MLCF 41.85 Increased By ▲ 0.47 (1.14%)
NBP 59.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-0.84%)
OGDC 193.85 Increased By ▲ 3.75 (1.97%)
PAEL 28.25 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (1.51%)
PIBTL 7.83 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PPL 151.95 Increased By ▲ 1.89 (1.26%)
PRL 26.63 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-0.93%)
PTC 16.11 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.25%)
SEARL 85.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.47%)
TELE 7.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.78%)
TOMCL 35.50 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.25%)
TPLP 8.14 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.25%)
TREET 16.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-1.95%)
TRG 52.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.92%)
UNITY 26.40 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.92%)
WTL 1.26 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,957 Increased By 73.1 (0.74%)
BR30 30,925 Increased By 325.2 (1.06%)
KSE100 93,862 Increased By 506.4 (0.54%)
KSE30 29,087 Increased By 156.3 (0.54%)

Turkmenistan will reopen its commercial foreign currency exchange kiosks next week in a bid to eliminate black market money trading, the nation's president ordered this week. But the official rate of the manat, the national currency of the ex-Soviet state, will remain three times lower than what it brings on the market.
The Central Asian state is emerging from two decades of isolation under the rule of oddball-authoritarian leader Saparmurad Niyazov, who closed the commercial exchanges in 1998. Niyazov died last year.
Until now, only a handful of companies picked by the government could buy US dollars from the central bank, where the rate was fixed at 5,200 to the dollar.
Ordinary Turkmen turned instead to the black market, where a dollar could fetch 23,600 manat.
The new President Gurbangeldy Berdymukhamedov, who has pledged to liberalise the economy, issued a decree on Thursday allowing free currency trading. He also ordered the establishment of an interbank currency exchange.
But the difference between the official and the market rates will remain high. Berdymukhamedov ordered the official rate lowered to 6,250 Manat per dollar while the so called commercial rate at which dealing is allowed will be 20,000 Manat.

Copyright Reuters, 2007

Comments

Comments are closed.