On November 1, the Turkmen manat celebrated its 28th anniversary. On this occasion, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov congratulated bank officials, calling the anniversary of the national currency "a symbol of economic achievements and success in the era of power and happiness."

According to the head of state, despite "serious problems in the world economy", the financial rating of Turkmenistan is growing. This is evidenced by the assignment of a B + credit rating to the country by Fitch Ratings.

In reality, over 28 years, the Turkmen manat has depreciated against the US dollar by 57.5 thousand (!) Times.

In 1993, after the introduction of the Turkmen currency into circulation, one dollar was worth two manats. By 2009, the dollar exchange rate on the black market rose to about 24,000 manat.

In 2009, the manat was denominated and 5,000 old manats were equated to one new one, and the official rate was set at 2.85 manats (14,250 old manats) per dollar.

In 2015, the official exchange rate rose to 3.5 manats and remains at this level to this day. At the same time, it is impossible to exchange manats for foreign currency at the state rate.

This led to the flourishing of the "black market" of currencies, where, according to current information, one dollar can be bought for 23 manats. When recalculated in old manats, this amount will be equal to 115 thousand, that is, since 1993 the exchange rate has increased 57.5 thousand times.

At its peak, in April 2021, the dollar was worth 40 manats (200 thousand old manats), that is, 100 thousand times more than in 1993.

Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan