Downsizing is currently underway in Turkmenistan’s organizations and companies.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that staff have already been made redundant in enterprises of state holdings “Turkmengas” and “Turkmenneft” (Turkmen oil) as well as departments of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations.
After previous staff reductions many employees of the aforementioned agencies, including economists, accountants, engineers and support staff are working part-time with reduced salaries. Many of them have been recently laid off.
Executives are concerned because they are experiencing a shortage of experienced and highly-skilled personnel. It is known who will be fulfilling responsibilities of those who have been made redundant. They feel sorry for those who have been laid off but can only advise them to contact the unemployment office.
Queues are being formed in Ashgabat’s unemployment office. Those who have been made redundant and are eligible for the unemployment allowance for two months are being registered. The amount of the allowance will depend on the tenure and the previous salary.
Let is recall that at the Cabinet session, held on 9 May, 2020 Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said that the current sharp drop in oil prices can lead “to a more unfavourable situation compared to the financial crisis of 2008 and the fall in oil prices in 2014-2015”. In this connection Deputy Prime Ministers were charged with the task of putting together proposals on cutting expenditures.
A similar instruction was voiced by the head of state to the Deputy Prime Ministers overseeing economy and finance at the meeting held on 19 May.